Finding Franz Hopper
by 2remember
Summary: [ UPDATED! ] Jeremie has finally found Franz Hopper! Now the problem is getting him out without harming Sissi, or himself...
1. Reaching Out And Touching Someone

**Author's Note:** Those of you who may have originally read this story may have noticed that it stopped rather abruptly after 'A World Without Danger.' That was because I had originally intended to continue the story from that point. However, my continuation seemed like it took such a radically different direction that I thought it should be another story. I was wrong.

So, I have added the chapters I was originally planning on releasing in another story. As a result, the rating of the story needs to be raised to 'T' due to some violence and story content.

**P.S.:**The entire story takes place after the Autumn Harvest Dance described in 'Uncle Sam's Misguided Children,' and completes before the trip to the air base.

* * *

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Aelita Hopper was sound asleep, dreaming about love. In her dreams, she and Jeremie were spinning together, two bodies floating in space, worlds and suns and stars circling about them. They were the center of the universe, all things revolved around them. And they revolved around each other... 

Suddenly, she was shaken. She fought off the distraction, trying to stay in the moment with her love, but the shaking wouldn't stop. Finally, she was pulled out of her sleep.

"What, what is it..." she mumbled.

She opened her eyes. It was still night, and there was a dark form hovering above her, still shaking her.

"I'm awake! What is it?" she said, trying to sit up.

The form moved back from her, and she was able to sit up. Looking at the form, she saw that it was her roommate, Sissi Delmas. The form's outline matched Sissi, plus Sissi's bed was empty.

"Sissi, what do you want at oh-dark thirty in the morning?"

Sissi, started to speak, but what came out of her mouth wasn't words. It sounded like a tape recorder playing backwards real fast.

"Oh, no. Franz? Franz Hopper? Papa, is that you?"

Sissi started making the noises again.

Aelita got up and turned on a light. Now she could see Sissi. Her face had an odd look to it, like she was possessed. And in a sense, she was. Franz Hopper must have somehow activated a tower in Lyoko and taken control of Sissi, something he did several months ago, before school ended for the summer. Whether it was coincidence or Sissi was the only thing he could affect in the real world, Aelita didn't know. But he was here, right now, trying to contact her.

"Sissi, you are talking backwards. I cannot understand you. You must reverse your speech somehow," she tried telling her friend.

Sissi looked at her for a moment, as if trying to understand what she said, but then started talking gibberish again.

Aelita tried another tact. She went over to her desk and got a piece of paper. She then found a pen and wrote, "You Are Talking Backwards," then showed it to Sissi. Sissi got a quizzical look on her face, but once again started speaking gibberish.

Aelita then took Sissi and pulled her over to her mirror. She pointed Sissi at it, then held up the paper. Sissi's eyes got wide when she saw the paper's reflection. She then took the paper and pen and wrote something down. When Aelita looked at what she wrote, she saw that the writing was backwards also. Sissi held the paper up to the mirror.

It said, 'Help Me. Need sensory input. Gone too long without. Mad. Insane. Thought I saw you in Hell. I Miss You, Princess."

Aelita took the paper and wrote, "I Miss You Too. How can we help?" She then held the paper back up to the mirror.

Sissi read the message, then took the paper and wrote, "Memory Diagnostic. memdiagobj. Ask the Scyphozoa."

After writing that, Sissi collapsed.

* * *

Jeremie Belpois' dreams were full of the scent of angels and pink. All was right in the universe because they were together. If only that ringing would stop... 

Jeremie woke with a start, then scrambled about looking for his cell phone. He found it and answered just before the call switched to his voice mail.

"Hello, who is it?"

"Jeremie, it's Aelita. You need to come to my room right now."

He smiled as he replied, "'Lita, I miss you too, but..."

"Jeremie, my father just paid me a visit."

Jeremie's smile vanished. "Oh. I'll be right there."

Jeremie got up and got dressed. Then he quietly left his room, trying to be stealthy so he wouldn't get caught after curfew, and on the Girl's Dorm level. Just as he was about to close his door, he heard a door _slam!_ open, and footsteps run towards the stairs. Figuring that sneaking about was no longer an option, Jeremie shut his door and broke into a run after the phantom.

When he got to the Girl's Dorm level, Jeremie saw his phantom. Odd Della Robbia was in front of Aelita's door, getting ready to pound it down, demanding admittance.

"Odd, keep it down! We'll be in deep trouble if you wake everyone up!" he called to his friend as quietly as he could.

By that time, Jeremie had caught up to Odd, and having stopped him from waking the whole floor, knocked softly on Aelita's door. The door opened, and the boys went in.

Aelita had taken the few moments since she called to help Sissi get back into bed and covered up. She then put on a robe so she would be more presentable to visitors.

Odd was immediately at Sissi's bedside, trying to wake her.

"Odd, it's okay! She's just asleep!" Aelita told the boy.

"But you don't understand! We were dreaming together, and she just disappeared! She didn't fade out, she was gone! I couldn't feel her anywhere!"

"Odd, settle down," Jeremie told him, "whatever happened to her is over. She'll wake up in a minute, you'll see."

And she did, as if ordered to do so by Jeremie's suggestion. Sissi opened her eyes, and her face became a mask of fear. Seeing Odd kneeling next to her bedside, she sat up and threw her arms around him.

"It was awful! One moment we were together, and the next... He just pulled me out, pushed me aside and took over! There wasn't anything I could do! I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, nothing! I thought I was dead..."

She started crying into Odd's shoulder now. Odd just rocked from side to side, trying to comfort her.

"Aelita, how do you know it was Franz Hopper?" Jeremie asked.

"Sissi started behaving the way she did months ago, when my father used her last," Aelita replied.

"Were you able to get anything from him?"

"Yes, look," Aelita said, showing Jeremie the paper she used.

Jeremie took the paper and went over to the mirror. Holding the page up, he read what Franz Hopper had written.

"Hmmm, memdiagobj. Some kind of utility, I guess. I wonder what he meant by "Ask the Scyphozoa?"

Sissi had settled down by this point. "Did I hear you right? This happened to me before?"

"Yeah," Odd told her, "just a little while before school ended last summer. You remember my movie?"

"Yes," Sissi coldly replied.

"Do you remember me asking you to be in my next movie the next day?"

"That stupid idea you had about me being possessed and... Oh."

"Yeah," Jeremie said, "that really happened. You don't remember it because we did a Return To The Past to fix the damage that got caused."

"Is there some reason why Aelita's dad is picking on me?" Sissi asked next.

"I don't know," Jeremie replied, "hopefully it was just because you were so close to Aelita, and he really needed to speak with her."

"And if not?"

"Then it may suck to be you for a while."


	2. memdiagobj

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

The next morning was Sunday. Since there were no classes, Jeremie could spend the whole day figuring out what the memdiagobj was.

But first, he called a meeting of the gang. He also called Aelita's uncle, Desmond Hopper. Jeremie had promised him that he would include Desmond in anything that involved finding his brother.

They met at the factory late in the morning. When everybody arrived, Jeremie filled them in.

"I hope you don't make a habit of visiting my niece's bedroom in the middle of the night, young man," Desmond deadpanned. Jeremie blushed and Desmond smiled.

Recovering his composure, Jeremie then said, "we've got two avenues to explore, the memdiagobj and the Scyphozoa. I want to pursue the first avenue first; I don't think any of us are ready to confront the Scyphozoa again."

Aelita shuddered at the suggestion.

"Anyway," Jeremie continued, "Aelita and I are going to search the supercomputer. There's got to be some documentation on this memdiagobj somewhere, we'll find it then figure out what to do next."

"And what will I do in the meantime?" Sissi asked, "what do I do if he, he..."

Odd put his arm protectively around her.

"I don't know, Sissi," Jeremie replied, "we'll just have to keep an eye on you; that's about all we can do right now. I'm sure Odd can handle that, right Odd?"

"Yeah, Einstein," Odd said with no trace of humor.

"Odd, I know you're worried about Sissi, and we'll do everything we can for her. But it's going to take time, and Franz Hopper may not wait for us to figure his message out. What you can do is what Aelita did last night, try and communicate with him. I don't think he'll try anything again unless he needs to get a message to us. If he does, try the paper trick again. And try and talk him into leaving Sissi alone."

"What do Yumi and I need to do," Ulrich asked.

"Nothing, right now. But we may need to make an excursion into Lyoko to figure this thing out and I wanted you two on alert, just in case," Jeremie replied.

"Mr. Hopper, you had better brush up on the commands I've been showing you lately," Jeremie then said to the adult, "I've got a bad feeling that you may be driving the boat the next time we enter Lyoko."

* * *

Jeremie, Aelita, and Desmond spent the rest of the day scouring the supercomputer for any information about the memdiagobj. Jeremie quickly found a file with that name, but determined that it was a library file that other programs linked to in order to utilize the functions it contained. Desmond read over the notes that Jeremie gave him, hoping that the boy had missed a reference to this mysterious program somewhere in the writing. Aelita was at another terminal in the lab, doing her own searches.

"Jeremie, I think I found something," Aelita called out after a while.

Jeremie walked over to her and looked at her terminal screen. In one of the windows was a file listing, and one of the files was called memdiagobj.cpp.

"Ooo, source code! Open it up!" he said excitedly.

Aelita double-clicked on the icon representing the file, and got an error message, "Permission Denied."

"Give me the path to the file, I might be able to get at it," Jeremie said to her.

Aelita wrote the path to the directory down on a note pad and gave it to Jeremie. He went back to his console and started working.

Ten minutes later, he shouted, "Crap! The file is owned by the system administrator! I can't spoof my way into it!"

"I thought you were the system administrator, Jeremie," Desmond said.

"I wish," Jeremie replied, "I guess Franz Hopper did all his work as the admin, and didn't bother securing any other accounts on the system. Aelita, are you the administrator?"

"No," she replied from her terminal, "at least I don't _think_ so."

She then started typing on her terminal. Five minutes later she said, "nope, I'm not."

Just then, a window popped up on Jeremie's terminal with Odd's picture in it. Jeremie clicked on the window and a phone's keypad appeared under the picture. Jeremie spoke into his microphone, "what's up, Odd."

On the other end, Odd replied, "Einstein, Sissi's possessed again! I tried talking him out of her, but he won't go! He's saying he has to see Aelita."

"Odd," Jeremie said, keeping his voice calm and level, "I want you to ask Franz to give you the administrator's password for the supercomputer. Tell him we need it for the memdiagobj."

"Okay." There was silence on the other end as Odd relayed the message to Franz.

After a moment, Odd was back, "he says, 'Aelita first.'"

Jeremie thought a moment, "Odd, tell him no."

"What!"

"You heard me, tell him no."

"Are you crazy!" Odd shouted over the connection.

"Odd, listen to me," Jeremie replied, "Franz Hopper is desperate, but we have two things that he doesn't. One is Aelita, and two is access to the off switch. Tell him we need that password to get the memdiagobj file. Tell him that he can see Aelita after he gives it to you. And tell him if he doesn't, I will go downstairs and power the computer off. Tell him, Odd."

Desmond and Aelita watched the conversation in shock. Desmond had only known Jeremie since the end of the last school year, and didn't think the boy would harm a fly. Aelita knew him a lot better, and knew he wouldn't harm a fly, but she had never seen him act as cold-blooded as just now.

Odd spoke again, "Jeremie, he gave me something. P, that is capital P, R lower case, one the number one, N upper case, C lower case, three the number three, four the number four. That's it."

"Wait, Odd," Jeremie said. He opened a new window, then started typing. After a moment, a smile crossed the genius' face.

"Bring Sissi over," Jeremie said, "we got in."

Jeremie ended the call and immediately changed the administrator's password.

"Jeremie," Aelita said, "would you have shut the computer down if he didn't give it to you?"

"Of course not," he replied, "but _he_ didn't know that."

* * *

Jeremie copied the memdiagobj.cpp file onto a disk, so he could look at it in his room. The transfer had just completed when Odd and Sissi arrived.

When Sissi got off the elevator and saw Jeremie, she got a frightened look on her face.

Jeremie typed at his terminal, then spoke, "Mr. Hopper, I understand how you feel. You've been locked up for so long and now you have an avenue to see and feel again, you just want to keep doing just that. But you are depriving the owner of that body the very things that you are craving. You cannot continue to do that. I want you to leave Sissi and don't do this again. We are working as hard as we can to rescue you. You will just have to trust us."

Jeremie hit a key on his keyboard and the speakers started playing backwards gibberish. Sissi stood there and listened. After the noise stopped, Sissi began speaking.

Jeremie in the meantime had typed more commands at the keyboard, and was now holding the microphone of his headset out towards Sissi. When she stopped, Jeremie again hit a key on his keyboard. The speakers began their playback.

"No one can understand how I feel! I haven't seen anything, heard anything, felt anything for years! Even now, I'm not sure if you are real or just another delusion! But if you are real, you have to get me out! Ask the Scyphozoa! It is the interface to the memdiagobj! Ask the Scyphozoa!"

Aelita had now come around to where Sissi was standing. When she saw her, Sissi ran over and grabbed her in a fierce hug. Aelita could feel her father crying through Sissi's eyes as she returned his/her hug.

Sissi looked up, said something, then kissed Aelita. After she broke the kiss, Sissi collapsed. Aelita caught the girl before she hit the floor.

"That was just disturbing on so many levels," Odd said.

* * *

Sissi was alone in the blackness again. The last thing she remembered was talking to Odd as they were walking back to the dorms from the factory. Then _He_ came and yanked existence out from under her, shoved her into the blackness and took over. Sissi didn't think she could take this again.

_Sissi?_

Sissi thought the madness had started; she was hearing things now.

_Sissi, it's all right. You are not going mad, yet._

_Who's there?_ she thought-shouted, _help me!_

_It's Trickster, and I'm here to help you through this trial._

_Trickster?_ Sissi thought back, _who's that? Can you get me out of here?_

_Mr. Coyote, remember? Those of us who love you are with you, and will not leave your side._

When the voice said that, Sissi felt a warmth all around her, like a loving hug or a cuddle.

Mr. Coyote continued, _I am not in a position to force Franz Hopper out of your mind, but I can ease your suffering. Look Through My Eyes._

Suddenly, she could see again.

She seemed to be floating a short distance away from Odd and her body. Her body was writing something down on a pad of paper that Odd had carried with him. Odd was frantically dialing his cell phone while she was writing. Just as Odd connected his call, she gave him the pad.

Odd told the voice on the other end what she had written. He then turned and said something about an 'administrator password.' Her body then took the paper and quickly wrote something. Odd relayed the message over the phone.

"What! Are you crazy!" shouted at the phone. After a moment to compose himself, he told her, "Jeremie says the password first, then Aelita. And if you don't, he's going to shut down the supercomputer."

Her body shrieked at that. She quickly grabbed the paper and wrote something down. Odd relayed what she had written to Jeremie. Then, visibly relieved, he ended the phone call.

"C'mon, we're going back to the factory," he said, "we're going to Aelita." They began walking back.

_Hmm, I didn't think Jeremie had it in him,_ Mr. Coyote thought.

_Would he really do it? Turn the computer off?_ she thought.

_No, he wouldn't, but it was an excellent bluff. Unfortunately, he can't use it any more. The next time Franz Hopper will call him on it, and Jeremie will either have to back down or do it. Elizabeth, you need to tell Jeremie _not _to turn off the computer._

_Why? And I liked it when you were calling me Sissi,_ she thought to the Coyote.

_Because, _Elizabeth, _if the computer gets turned off while Hopper is possessing your body, he'll be trapped in it. And you will be trapped in your own mind, forever cut off. Be very worried when I call you 'Sissi,' Elizabeth. That name is reassuring and comforting to you. If I use it, then you need to be comforted and reassured, and that means you are in grave peril._

During the exchange, Sissi/Mr. Coyote had been following Sissi's body and Odd. They leaped down to the factory floor where the elevator was, then leaped through the walls and floors and ceilings to the computer lab where Jeremie, Aelita and Mr. Hopper were. The arrived just as Odd and company did.

They watched and listened as Jeremie spoke to Franz Hopper, and Franz replied. Then Sissi's body ran over to Aelita, hugged her close for a moment, said something, then kissed her.

_Time to go, Elizabeth. Tell Jeremie what I told you._

Sissi was plunged back into darkness for a moment. She then opened her eyes and saw Aelita's face uncomfortably close to hers.

"Okay, okay, I'm back!" Sissi said, getting her feet under her and untangling herself from Aelita, "and this doesn't mean we're going to be taking long warm showers together, missy!"

Aelita let go of her, laughing. "It's good to have you back, roommate."

"Jeremie," Sissi then said, "I have a message for you, from Mr. Coyote."

Jeremie looked levelly at the girl. Odd had told Jeremie about the coyote, that it was some kind of Teacher for Sissi and him. But the coyote had never taken an interest in any one else up to now.

"What did he say, Sissi?"

"He said whatever you do, don't turn the computer off! If you did while Aelita's dad is in me, he'll be trapped there, and I will too."

"Great. That's good to know though, Sissi," Jeremie replied.

"Mr Coyote also said that threatening Mr. Hopper with that won't work the next time. You'll have your bluff called."

"I figured that," Jeremie replied.

"Jeremie, you're not buying her cock-eyed story about a coyote, are you?" Ulrich said.

"After what we went through last summer, you're not?" Jeremie replied.


	3. Ask The Scyphozoa

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Jeremie felt like banging his head against a wall. At least he would feel better when he stopped...

Jeremie had been looking at the memdiagobj.cpp file for a week now, and hadn't been able to determine a thing about it. Jeremie thought he knew C, but this code was doing things he'd never seen before!

Not only that, it was almost totally unreadable. It was so bad, it probably could win an award for The Most Obfuscated C+ Code in the world! Franz Hopper may have been a genius, but he was a lousy coder.

Aelita had no better luck understanding it either. She looked at the code for an hour before giving up in disgust, muttering things about abusing minors that way wasn't a nice thing to do, and she never thought Jeremie was _into_ that kind of thing.

Jeremie didn't think she'd be too pleased with what he was about to suggest, either.

* * *

Friday afternoon, Jeremie gathered the team together.

"Guys, I've been looking at that program for a week now, and I'm no closer to figuring it out than I was Sunday. That program is so convoluted, I'm not sure what reality is anymore. Aelita looked at it for an hour and thought it was a perverted joke."

The others, except for Aelita, chuckled at that.

"You wouldn't laugh if you saw what I saw," she told them.

"Anyway," Jeremie continued, "it looks like the only way we're going to find Franz Hopper is by asking the Scyphozoa."

"No, Jeremie, you can't be serious!" Aelita exclaimed, "I can't do it! won't do it!" Panic was rising up within her even at the suggestion of Jeremie's plan.

"We'll protect you," Odd said, and the others echoed.

"If you really can't face it, and I understand completely if you can't, you can supervise from the console. I'll go in," Jeremie told her.

"No, don't," Aelita cried, tears starting to flow, "I can't bear to think about losing you! Please, don't do this!"

"This may be the only way to rescue your father," Jeremie replied.

"But, but, what if it's a trap? Maybe XANA has returned and it's not my father at all! Maybe..."

Jeremie walked over to Aelita and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her to silence her. He broke the embrace and hugged her close while she sobbed a while longer. All the while he rocked her softly back and forth, stroking her hair and the back of her neck as he did so.

After a moment, Aelita settled down. Jeremie hugged her one last time, then kissed her forehead.

"You know we have to do this," he told her softly.

"Yes," she replied, choking back a sob, "but I don't have to like it."

* * *

Jeremie decided that they would attempt to locate a Scyphozoa that Sunday. In the meantime, Jeremie and Aelita began searching the supercomputer again, trying to learn as much about their quarry as they could.

With system administrator privileges now, Jeremie had unprecedented access to the supercomputer. He was able to query processes, memory utilization, hardware status. And he could access any file on the system.

He whooped for joy when he found the source code for all of the monsters in Lyoko, including their quarry. The code for the Scyphozoa was a lot more readable than the memdiagobj file was. The first thing Jeremie learned was that it wasn't really a monster. It had no ingrained obedience to XANA, none of the 'monsters' in Lyoko had. Whoever called a creature was its master. That would make life much easier.

Aelita was harder to convince. She poured over the code for twice as long as Jeremie had, before she came to the same conclusion. Not that she liked it.

* * *

Sunday morning came and the group gathered at the factory. Desmond Hopper was there, and would be sitting at the console for this mission, his first time. Jeremie would be going with the others when they confronted the Scyphozoa.

Before they left, Jeremie made them all do something unusual. Desmond produced some vials, and Jeremie made each of them scrape the insides of their mouth with a sterile pin to remove some tissue. The tissue was then carefully placed in a vial, and the donor's name written on the vial. Jeremie did the same thing himself, after everyone else had.

"Why did we just do that," Odd asked.

"Insurance," Jeremie replied, "if something happens to us and we can't be recovered, these tissue samples can be used to rebuild us in the real world. Mr. Hopper, you have the instructions I gave you, right."

"Yes I do," Desmond replied, "I just pray I don't have to use them."

"Okay, let's get this over with," Jeremie said, "we're going to Carthage."

* * *

Since there were only three scanners, they entered Lyoko in two groups. Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie went first, then Yumi, Sissi and Aelita. They arrived at the central entrance to Carthage with no trouble.

"Get ready everyone, we've got to find that switch fast!" Ulrich said.

"No, we don't," Jeremie replied, "Aelita and I came here after the Autumn Harvest Dance a few weeks ago and deactivated it. There is no more timer."

"Now you tell us," Odd said, "and I bet the next thing you're going to tell us is there's no monsters waiting for us."

"That's right," came the voice of Desmond Hopper, "the display here shows nothing. The corridor is opening. You may proceed."

They made their way down the corridor and into the arena. I was basically a hollow space.

"Mr. Hopper, is the arena still configured the way we configured it last?" Jeremie asked.

"Yes, it seems to be. Gravity is one-tenth normal at the floors, decreasing to zero in the center. Gravity is also relative to the walls."

Odd found this out the hard way when he stepped out of the corridor and fell sideways onto the wall.

"Oops! Be careful of that transition, guys," Jeremie said.

They made their way onto the wall and looked up at the corridor on the other end, the one that led to the interface panel.

"Alright, Einstein, how are we going to get there," Ulrich asked.

"Simple," Jeremie replied as he and Aelita kicked off.

They flew up and away from the rest of the gang. As they did, the adjusted their flightpath so they joined each other. As they flew to the other side, they started twirling around in each other's arms.

They passed through the center of the room and were pulled to the other side by gravity. They adjusted themselves and softly landed on the far wall. Then they made their way to the opposite corridor.

"Showoffs!" Odd shouted.

"C'mon, it's easy!" Jeremie shouted back, "let's go!"

The others kicked off and joined the couple. Their progress wasn't quite as polished as Jeremie and Aelita's was. They tumbled and landed sprawled out on the far wall.

When they joined Jeremie and Aelita, Jeremie said, "well, we _have_ done this before."

They walked to the elevator, and then made it to the interface panel. Odd, Yumi, Ulrich and Sissi formed a protective crescent between the door and Jeremie and Aelita. Aelita went to the interface and started manipulating it.

She got to a certain point, then stopped. "I don't know if I can do this, Jeremie," she said.

"Then let me," he replied. He stepped up to the interface and made the final entries.

Seconds later, a Scyphozoa appeared, floating in the space just beyond the interface panel.

Aelita shrieked and backpedaled from the panel. The others, hearing her cry, turned around and got between her and her nightmare incarnate.

Jeremie, however, remained before the interface. The display had cleared, replaced with one word, 'Command'.

Jeremie said, "help."

The display responded by displaying a stream of words. Jeremie read the display, pausing it at points, backing up and rereading certain parts. Jeremie then said, "AI mode. Interactive Audio. Run."

"I am a System Memory Diagnostic," the Scyphozoa said, "I can examine and repair any memory region in the system. I have comprehensive searching capabilities."

"Can you examine memory regions without erasing them?" Jeremie asked.

"Yes. Non-destructive testing is available. Default is destructive memory testing."

"Does that mean that XANA could have gotten what he wanted without killing Aelita," Yumi asked.

"Evidently," Jeremie replied, "yet one more reason to destroy it."

To the Scyphozoa, Jeremie said, "I'm looking for something, for someone. His name is Franz Hopper."

"Franz Hopper is located in the external access tower located in Carthage sector."

"But I was in that tower! He wasn't there!" Aelita shouted.

"Franz Hopper is located in the external access tower located in Carthage sector."

"How can we access Franz Hopper?" Jeremie asked.

"Tower access restricted," the Scyphozoa replied.

"I have system administrator access. Access id is 'root' password is 'KuU93N'," Jeremie said.

"Access Denied. Only XANA can access tower."

"Great, the only way we can save Franz Hopper is by asking our worst enemy to let us in. You wouldn't happen to have XANA's access id would you?" Jeremie said to no one in particular.

"Access id 'XANA', password '12345,'" replied the Scyphozoa.

Jeremie's jaw dropped at the reply.

"Access external access tower, Carthage sector. Access id 'XANA' password is '12345'," Jeremie said after a moment.

"Access granted."

As the tower materialized behind the Scyphozoa, it said, "just because we served XANA doesn't mean we _liked_ doing so."


	4. The Memory Of Franz Hopper

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Once the tower materialized, the interface panel disappeared. The Scyphozoa moved to one side to allow the team to pass. There was now a bridge between the platform where they stood and the entrance to the tower.

They approached the tower slowly, keeping an eye on the Scyphozoa the entire time. When they reached the tower, Aelita went inside, followed by the others. Jeremie was the last one through.

Before he entered, he said, "follow me, we might need your assistance." Jeremie then entered.

Once inside, he moved towards the center of the floor, making room for the Scyphozoa to enter.

"Be ready, we have guests coming," was the only warning he gave before the Scyphozoa entered. The others backed away from it as it approached.

Once it was through, the Scyphozoa went immediately to the edge of the platform. "Franz Hopper is located below." With that, it left the platform and lowered itself down.

"Let's go," Jeremie said, and stepped off the platform to follow their guide.

He fell at a slow pace. He didn't really know what to expect, since he had never actually been in one of Lyoko's towers before. He knew that jumping off some of the platforms in the towers took you to different places on Lyoko, but he had never experienced it for himself.

Quickly another platform appeared. The Scyphozoa was standing on it, waiting. Jeremie landed, then walked over to it. As he did, the others started arriving, Ulrich, then Yumi, then Aelita, then Sissi, and lastly Odd. Aelita stayed as far from the Scyphozoa as she physically could.

"Where is Franz Hopper," Jeremie asked the Scyphozoa.

It extended one of its tentacles to the wall of the tower, and pointed at a display panel floating there.

"Franz Hopper is there," it said.

"Can you remove it? Free him?" Aelita asked.

"Where would you like it?" replied the Scyphozoa.

"Here would be fine," Jeremie said.

"What container should be used?" the Scyphozoa said next.

"Container? What do you mean?" Jeremie asked.

"Container. Avatar. Like the one you are in," it replied, "is there a container to hold this data? Or will it be added to one of the containers already present? I scan that one has already been used for this purpose."

"No, do not add to one of the currently available containers," Jeremie quickly said, "tell me, where is the container that originally held this data?"

"The original container was deleted a long time ago, and cannot be recovered. However, a model of that container was created a short time ago, and is still available."

"All right, we'll use that. Transfer the data."

"Not possible. The data must be in close proximity to the container. Either the data must be transferred to where the container is located, or the container must be transferred here."

"Where is the container located," Jeremie asked, getting tired of the whole business.

"Scanning..."

After a moment, the Scyphozoa said, "the container is broken up into five data packets. These packets can only be joined by a polymorphic clone."

"Polymorphic clone? You mean like the one that replaced me?" Odd said.

"Yes," replied the Scyphozoa.

"Can you generate one?" Jeremie asked.

"No," was the reply, "but you can at the interface panel." When it said that, an interface panel appeared at the center of the platform.

"Jeremie, can you still hear me?" came Desmond Hopper's voice out of nowhere.

"Yes, sir, I can. What's up?"

"I just intercepted a cell phone call for Yumi. Her mother wants her home soon. I did the best I could, but I think she was alarmed that a stranger answered her phone and not her daughter."

"Can you activate the revirtualization program for Yumi? Transport her out now?"

"I will try. Hmm... Okay, dematerialize Yumi."

Yumi vanished from the group.

"Operation successful. The scanner reports reintegration completely successful. I will send her on her way now."

Jeremie turned is attention back to the interface. He searched for a moment, then found what he was looking for. He entered a few more commands, then a blob appeared just behind the interface.

As soon as it coalesced, the blob jumped at Jeremie, only to be snared by the Scyphozoa in one of its tentacles.

"This container is adequate. Transfer Franz Hopper into this container?" said the Scyphozoa.

"Yes," Jeremie replied.

The Scyphozoa reached a tentacle back to where Franz Hopper's memory was stored. Three other tentacles pointed at the blob being held. Then the tentacles started pulsing.

After a moment, the Scyphozoa stopped. "Transfer aborted. Memory region locked by active process 396443125."

"What is that?" Jeremie asked.

"Unknown," was the reply.

"Try again," Jeremie said.

After a moment, the Scyphozoa said, "Transfer aborted. Memory region locked by active process 500113698."

"That's another process," Aelita exclaimed, "how could that be?"

"Can you determine why the memory region was taken over by another process?" Jeremie asked.

"No, that is beyond my function," the Scyphozoa replied, "try again?"

"No, cancel transfer," Jeremie replied, "hmm, this is going to be a tough one. I'm going to have to think about this for a while. Can you keep track of, say, the last ten processes that lock Franz Hopper's memory location?"

"Yes."

"Can you report to me later on with that information?"

"Yes."

"Then we'll leave you to watch Franz Hopper. I'll contact you for an update soon."

"What about the polymorphic clone?"

"Can it retrieve the five data packets of the Franz Hopper template and incorporate them into itself?"

"Yes."

"Tell the clone to do that, then return to this tower."

"Done."

The blob leaped out of the Scyphozoa's grip and up to the level above them.

"I guess that's about all we can do for the moment. Mr. Hopper, dematerialize us."

"Right away, Jeremie," he replied.

As the others disappeared, the Scyphozoa said, "Jeremie, a word of warning. The routines that you are employing are the same ones that make up XANA. You run the risk of creating another being just like XANA, if you are not careful. Do not repeat and compound Franz Hopper's mistakes."

"I'll try not to," Jeremie replied as he disappeared.


	5. Parents And Children

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

That afternoon, Jeremie contacted the Scyphozoa from his dorm room terminal. It relayed the last ten processes that locked Franz Hopper's memory location. Using his new access, he tried to figure out what program was constantly locking the memory. He was unsuccessful. By the time he did his queries, the process had been removed from the system.

Jeremie sat back in his chair and thought a moment.

"Scyphozoa, can you run an external command when you identify the process locking Franz Hopper's memory location?"

"Yes," came the reply, "what command do you want executed?"

Jeremie quickly typed something on his keyboard. "This command. substitute $procid with the process id locking the memory location."

"I will."

"Say, is there something else I can call you? 'Scyphozoa' is a mouthful, and I think we're going to be talking an awful lot for the next few days."

"You may rename this instance to whatever you desire," the Scyphozoa replied.

"Okay, from now on, I'll call you... Zoe, how about that?"

"Accepted. I will now respond to the alias 'Zoe'," said Zoe the Scyphozoa.

"I will contact you before I go to bed for the night, Zoe," Jeremie said, beginning to close down his active sessions on his computer.

"Until then," Zoe replied and disappeared.

Jeremie logged out and went to find Aelita. Today had been a trial for her, fruitful as the expedition was, and he wanted to spend a little time with her alone.

* * *

He walked to the Girl's Dorm Level and knocked on Aelita's door. He thought he heard someone crying inside, so he knocked again and asked, "Aelita, are you alright?"

From inside, she replied, "yes, it's alright, Jeremie. Come on in."

Jeremie opened the door and walked in. He was mildly shocked at what he saw.

Aelita and Sissi were sitting on Aelita's bed. Sissi had her arms around Aelita, alternately hugging her close and caressing her. All the while she was crying. The look on Aelita's face was a mixture of confusion, sadness, and embarrassment.

"I take it your father is paying a visit, or is there something you two would like to tell me," Jeremie deadpanned.

"He possessed her as soon as we got back to our room," Aelita replied, "we've been this way ever since. I know it's my father, and I know it's been so long since he's seen me or anything for that matter, but this is really starting to creep me out."

Jeremie sat down on the bed next to Sissi. "I can understand that. Has he said anything?"

"Not much, and it was still backwards."

Jeremie was silent for a moment, then he wrapped his arms around both girls, his girlfriend and his possessed friend. He held them and hugged them both for a while, then whispered in Sissi's ear, "sir, she is safe with my friends and me. We will never let anything or anyone harm her. I love her just as much, if not more, than you do, and I'll spend the rest of my life proving that to the both of you. Please, sir, leave Sissi. Your presence is causing her the same suffering that you felt. Do you really want that?"

Sissi turned from Aelita to Jeremie. The presence behind her eyes regarded the boy for a moment, then nodded Sissi's head. Sissi then collapsed into Jeremie's arms.

Aelita helped Jeremie to get Sissi into her bed. Jeremie took her shoes off and covered her with her blanket.

"We should leave her alone for a while," Aelita said.

"No, I want to make sure she's okay before we go," Jeremie replied.

Just as he finished saying that, Sissi opened her eyes.

"I'm alright guys," she said weakly, "Mr. Coyote helped me again, but this possession crap does take a lot out of you."

Jeremie and Aelita smiled at that remark. Aelita took Sissi's hand and squeezed it, saying, "are you going to be alright for a while? I'll have Odd come over if you want."

"I'll be okay, but having Odd with me would be nice," she replied.

As the couple started to leave, Sissi snatched Jeremie's hand, stopping him for a second, and said, "I know what she sees in you now, Casanova. You could melt a heart of ice with that voice."

* * *

Aelita and Jeremie were walking across the campus, heading for their spot in the park, when they noticed Mrs. Ishiyama walking in the gate.

"Hi, Mrs. Ishiyama!" the couple called out.

She waived back to them, stopped for a moment, then approached them.

"Aelita, Jeremie," she said in greeting, "I came here to see the principal about something that happened earlier this today. Seeing you now makes me believe that I would be talking to the wrong person about my concerns."

The couple got very odd looks on their faces.

Mrs. Ishiyama continued, "I called Yumi earlier to tell her to come home for the day. Imagine my surprise when a strange man answered her phone! He was polite, and told me he would relay my message to her, then hung up. Yumi did return home a few minutes later, seemingly none the worse for the wear."

"I know my daughter is involved in some strange things, Ulrich Stern aside, but my patience ends when strange men answer my daughter's phone. I will know _now_ what is going on here, or you and your friends will wish they had never been born!"

Jeremie gulped, then said, "alright, come with us."

Jeremie led Aelita and Mrs. Ishiyama into the park, to the sewer access they use to get to the factory.

"We're going down here," he told Mrs. Ishiyama as he pulled up the sewer lid, "Aelita, go first, then you, ma'am, and I'll follow."

"This had better not be some kind of prank," Mrs. Ishiyama said as she descended into the sewer.

After pulling the sewer lid back over the opening, Jeremie joined them at the bottom. "This way," he said, pointing.

As they passed the skateboards and scooters they used to get to the factory, Jeremie said, "we keep those here, so we can get where we're going quickly. A lot of times when we come here, we're in a hurry."

They walked, crossing the streams that converged on the channel they were following, until they came to the end.

"We go up from here. I'll go first," Jeremie said as he started climbing.

They came out on the bridge between the city and the factory. Mrs. Ishiyama looked around.

"For some reason, I feel like I've been here before," she said.

"You have," Jeremie replied, "you just don't remember it."

Mrs. Ishiyama looked at Jeremie, "I may not remember it, but I have dreamt of this place. What is its significance to my daughter?"

"It's inside," Jeremie replied, "come with me."

They entered the factory, and Jeremie directed them to a stairway. When they reached the main level, Jeremie pointed to the ropes hanging above in front of the entrance.

"We use those to get down here quickly. Like I said in the sewer, a lot of times when we come here, we're in a hurry."

He called the elevator, and they all got in. He pushed the down button, and the elevator descended. When they got to the bottom, Jeremie did something to the elevator controls, and a panel opened. He entered something on a keypad that was revealed, and the elevator descended again. When it stopped next, they stood before a huge door, almost like a bank vault. The door opened, and they walked in.

"This is our secret, one we've kept for over three years now," Jeremie said, "your daughter, Ulrich, Odd Della Robbia, Aelita, myself, and Aelita's roommate Sissi Delmas have been fighting something that if someone doesn't stop, will probably destroy the world."

"That sounds like teenage melodramatics," Mrs. Ishiyama replied.

"I wish to God it was," Jeremie replied, "over three years ago, I was poking around on the 'Net, when I came across Aelita. She told me about a place called Lyoko, and a thing called XANA. XANA is a computer program that wanted out of its computer, and wants to destroy the world. We've been trying to stop if from succeeding, but last summer, it escaped."

"We haven't seen it or heard of it since and we're waiting for it to pop up again. In the meantime, another problem has reared up. Aelita's father, who we thought was dead, has been trying to contact us for the past few weeks. He's also been causing a certain amount of mischief doing so, much to the chagrin of Sissi Delmas."

"This all sounds like a bad children's cartoon," said Mrs. Ishiyama.

"Then you're really not going to believe this. Lyoko is a virtual world. It was created, and exists in the computer that is located here. Aelita's father, a man named Franz Hopper, built it years ago for some purpose. He created XANA, as some kind of assistant, but it gained self awareness and escaped. Until last summer, XANA could only affect a limited amount of things in our world. When it did, we would have to go to Lyoko and stop it."

"You said Lyoko existed in this computer," Mrs. Ishiyama said, "how then can you go there?"

"On the level below us are scanners. They can scan a body placed inside, convert it to a data stream, and store it in the computer. Once there, that body becomes part of Lyoko. In the case of people, they can move about and interact with the environment."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't blame you. Aelita, go to the console. Prepare to send Mrs. Ishiyama and myself to Lyoko. I think the Forest Region would be a good place to start."

Aelita looked at Jeremie and said, "do you want me to use the RTTP protocol?"

"No," he replied, "she deserves to know what Yumi's involved in. If what Yumi said was true, she half way knows already."

Aelita nodded and went to the console. Jeremie led Mrs. Ishiyama back to the elevator.

Mrs. Ishiyama stood still. "If you think I'm going to just follow you..."

"You wanted to know what Yumi does," Jeremie replied, "this is it. I know my story sounds lame, but this is the only way I can convince you. You won't come to any harm, I promise."

Warily, Mrs. Ishiyama joined him in the elevator.

They went down one level. When the door opened, a room of jumbled equipment was revealed, with three cylinders towards the middle. Two of the cylinders were open. Jeremie led Mrs. Ishiyama to one.

"Just step inside and wait. I'll see you on the other side."

The door closed and Mrs. Ishiyama was trapped inside. Fear started to rise within her. She thought that the blond boy had tricked her somehow and now she was in danger. No one knew where she was, and no one other than the boy and the girl would ever think to look here.

Mrs. Ishiyama then felt air starting to whoosh up from the floor. She was then lifted up as she heard Aelita's voice say, "Transfer Mrs. Ishiyama. Scanner, Mrs. Ishiyama. Virtualization."

Mrs. Ishiyama ceased to exist. Then, she returned to existence in a strange place. She felt strange. The world around her looked strange. Then, she fell.

It was a short drop, but she still sprawled on landing. She had just pulled herself into a sitting position when Jeremie materialized and dropped down beside her.

"Welcome to Lyoko, watch that first step," he said.

"This must be some kind of dream. You gave me some kind of drug in that cylinder," she told him.

He reached out and gave her a hard pinch on her arm.

"Ow! How dare you!"

"It's not a dream, is it?" Jeremie said.

"I will reserve judgment, for now," she replied as she rubbed her arm.

Jeremie led Mrs. Ishiyama around the forest. "This is called the Forest Region. It is one of four regions within Lyoko. Each one is a different ecosystem, so to speak."

"Where is the wildlife?" Mrs. Ishiyama asked.

"There is none, per se," Jeremie replied, "when XANA was trapped here, he would send monsters to try and stop us from stopping him. We haven't seen any monsters since he escaped, and I recently found out what we called monsters weren't really monsters at all, just creatures controlled by XANA. If I were to call one forth, it would obey me. In fact, I have already. That was part of the reason Yumi was here today."

"Who was the man that answered my daughter's phone, this XANA?"

"No, that was Desmond Hopper, Aelita's uncle. He was working the console while we were here today."

"And what was my daughter doing?"

"She was helping me find Aelita's father, Franz Hopper. He's been trapped in this computer somewhere for around twelve years now. He recently began contacting us to help him, and we've been trying to."

"I see. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't call the police and have you all arrested."

"You said it yourself, my story is far fetched. Do you think the police would believe you?"

"Not until I brought them here and... You probably wouldn't give them the grand tour you're giving me."

"No. When Aelita asked me if I wanted her to use the RTTP protocol, what she was asking was if I wanted her to initiate what we call a Return To The Past. One of the other capabilities of the computer is to somehow reverse time for certain objects identified to the computer. Right now, those objects are me, Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Sissi and Desmond Hopper. If we were to do a return to the past now, I would make sure that Yumi didn't go with us, so she would be able to take your phone call."

"There's another reason why you shouldn't call the cops," Jeremie continued, "I said earlier that XANA hasn't bothered _us_ since the summer. It has bothered Yumi, though."

"When?"

"While she was in Japan. XANA somehow tracked her down there and tried to kill her. It was stopped, and is still trapped wherever it is for a time. But it will escape."

"One more thing, XANA has attacked your family in the past. You may not remember it but some giant crabs attacked your home. Ulrich managed to stop it, or at least slow it down before we returned to the past and erased it."

"I remember having a dream where that happened," Mrs. Ishiyama said. She thought for a moment, then said, "alright, you have convinced me. It is useless to fight _karma_ anyway. What would you have me do?"

"Yumi told me you had a certain knowledge of what we do, now you have more. The only thing I can ask of you is to keep our secret. And know that we all love Yumi, and will do whatever we can to protect her, just as she would for any of us."

"I see. Can we go now? I don't want my husband getting worried."

* * *

After leaving Mrs. Ishiyama at the school gates, Jeremie and Aelita went to their spot.

"Do you think we can trust her?" Aelita asked.

"We'll know for sure if and when the police come and drag us away, I guess," Jeremie replied, "there's not much we can do 'til then, except..."

He pulled Aelita into his arms and kissed her.

* * *

That evening, when she got home, Mrs. Ishiyama had a long talk with Yumi. A diplomat would have called the conversation 'frank.' Anyone else would have called it a fight.

Mrs. Ishiyama fairly well blistered the paint in Yumi's bedroom with her accusations. Yumi said nothing in her defense. When her mother finished, Yumi said, "you're right, mother, I should have told you a long time ago. Even now, painful as it is, I'm relieved that you know. But if I had to do it over again, I would in a heartbeat. You said once I can't escape my _karma_. Well I've looked my _karma_ in the face, and I have a small glimmer of an inkling of where it may take me, and it scares the living crap out of me. But I'll walk down that road, wherever it takes me, Ulrich and my friends. I love you, mommy, but I must."

"I know you will," her mother replied, "that's the worst part."

* * *

That night, before going to bed, Jeremie contacted Zoe.

"Give me the results," he said.

A window popped open, and the last ten processes that locked Franz Hopper's memory were displayed.

Jeremie noted the commands being executed, and tried to locate the files. They were no where to be found.

He sat back in his chair, exasperated. Phantom programs locking memory, Franz Hopper possessing Sissi to see Aelita, Mrs. Ishiyama protecting her daughter. Parents and Children. God help him and Aelita if that's what's entailed in raising a family...

_Waitaminute,_ Jeremie thought, _Parents and Children... Parents and Children... Parent processes and Children processes, that's it!_

He quickly pulled up the process list again and looked closer.

On each line, the process id of the program being run was displayed as well as the process id of the program that initiated it, the parent process.

Checking each entry, Jeremie saw that each process at some point spawned another process that took the lock on Franz Hopper's memory location. The program that was run by the process must be rewritten each and every time, then deleted later. That's how it was being done!

"Zoe, can you hear me?" Jeremie called to the computer.

"Yes, standing by," was the reply from Zoe.

"Can you locate the memory region where the source code that these processes are running is stored?"

"Those locations are deleted," came the reply.

"But have they been reallocated yet?"

Zoe thought a moment, "unknown. It is possible that the locations are not reallocated and modified immediately after deletion. If that is the case, recovery is possible."

"Good! I want you to try and recover one of those memory regions. Try to get as much as you can. Once you do, stop further monitoring until I contact you in the morning."

"Understood. Sleep Well."


	6. A World Without Danger

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Jeremie woke the next morning to his alarm clock, not the police.

He went over to his computer, logged in, and checked with Zoe.

"Were you able to retrieve anything?" he asked.

"Yes. Several memory fragments were recovered. I believe one is completely intact, but you will have to verify this," Zoe replied.

"Alright, hold the information for me, and I'll look at it later. By the way, did the polymorphic clone return with the data packets?"

"Yes, the packets have been assembled and the container is awaiting the data transfer."

"Good. Can you examine the packets to make sure there are no surprises from XANA in them?"

"No. You will have to use another utility to perform that function."

"Okay, I'll do that later too."

* * *

The next sign that Jeremie received that the world wasn't quite ready to end yet was when Yumi joined the gang that morning.

"It was a near thing," Yumi said, "I've never seen mother that angry, not even at daddy. She went on and on, and all I could do was sit there in silence."

"I take it by your presence here that she settled down," Jeremie said.

"Yes. But I think if she could have thought of any way to keep me out of this, she would have. It was one thing when she thought it was just me hiding Ulrich from her. The possibility of something trying to kill me is something else altogether."

The warning bell rang. The gang broke up to go to class.

* * *

Franz Hopper waited until Mrs. Hertz's Science class before making his presence known. The teacher had just asked Sissi a question about one of the effects of global warming when Sissi started talking in the high-speed backwards tape recorder sound she made when Franz possessed her, stopped for a moment, then answered Mrs. Hertz's question in her normal, well, almost normal voice. The teacher was quite surprised that Sissi had the correct answer for once, and continued on. Sissi did nothing unusual for the rest of class.

After Science class ended, however, Sissi grabbed Jeremie by the arm and dragged him off to a corner.

"Jeremie, I must speak with you," Sissi told the boy.

"Sissi, we can gab all you want at lunch," Jeremie replied, "We've got to get to PE or Jim's gonna kill us."

"It is not Sissi," she said, "I was able to finally figure out why my I/O was being reversed at the access point."

"Franz! You can't keep doing this!" Jeremie said to the person behind Sissi's eyes.

"It was necessary," he replied, "I know you have been monitoring me. Why are you doing this?"

"Because the area where your memory is located is constantly being locked by different processes in the system," Jeremie replied, "we can't get you out until that stops."

"Those processes are necessary to enable me to work," Hopper replied, "it is the only way I can get sensory input until you can get me out."

"We have a contain... er, body for you, but we can't transfer you into it while those processes keep locking your memory."

Sissi took out a piece of paper and wrote something down. Then she said, "construct a pipe at this location. The processes check for a pipeline there. If it finds one, it will transfer my memory to it."

"Great! I'll do it after school," the boy replied.

"Do it now," Franz Hopper said, "I will not leave this body until the transfer is complete."

"I can't! I'm going to be late for PE as it is, and so is Sissi! If anyone finds out about you, there's no telling what will happen. You may never escape."

"Walk," Franz Hopper said.

Jeremie and Sissi started walking. Jeremie went to the gym, and Sissi/Franz followed him. He stopped when he got to the Boy's Locker Room door.

"Tell me you're not coming in with me," Jeremie said.

Sissi's face smiled, "I may be insane, but I'm not stupid. I will go to the Infirmary with a complaint about cramps. That should give you enough time to complete your class. I will return after PE and we will go to the factory. Remember, the longer I am in possession of this body, the longer its owner is trapped."

With that, Sissi turned and left.

Jeremie went in and dressed out for PE. He barely managed to make it on time.

When Jim called Sissi's name at role call, Jeremie piped up, "she told me just before I came in that she was going to the Nurse, something about cramps."

"Hm," replied Jim, "it seems like this is the third Monday in a row she's had 'cramps.' All right, everybody. Warm ups! Stern, lead the class!"

Ulrich came to the front and started leading the class in their warm up exercises. Jim, in the meantime, walked off to the side and made a call on his cell phone.

Odd, who had taken his place next to Jeremie, said, "that was a dirty trick, Jer! A year ago, I wouldn't have thought much about it, but now..."

"Odd, I'll apologize to Sissi later, but Sissi isn't the one I want in trouble right now," Jeremie replied, "Franz Hopper took her over during Science class and said he's not letting her go until we get him out."

Sure enough, Sissi got in trouble. Jim placed a call to her father, the principal. Mr. Delmas went to the Infirmary, confronted his daughter, and placed her in detention in his office for the rest of the day, with the promise of running laps around the gym under the watchful eye of Jim Moralés tomorrow. The only thing Franz Hopper could do is glower.

At lunch time, Jeremie and Aelita managed to sneak out to the factory, to make preparations for the transfer, so Jeremie said. They barely made it back to their afternoon classes, but Jeremie told the gang that everything was ready for after school.

* * *

Sissi's body came stomping up to Jeremie and his friends as soon as the final bell had rung.

"I should do something memorable to this body for what you did to me," Franz told them, "my patience is wearing thin. We will go _now_ to the factory, and you will get me out, or I _will_ take out my anger on this body! You talk about her suffering, boy? Cross me again and I will ruin her life!"

The gang got hard looks on their faces, even Aelita. "I never knew you could be so cruel, father," she said.

"I'm sorry, Princess," she/he replied, "but I'm desperate. I will not remain a moment longer in this prison. Let us go, now."

The gang set off for the factory.

When they arrived, they all gathered around the console. Jeremie said, "you must leave Sissi in order to complete the transfer. I have no idea of what will happen if you don't."

"Very well," Franz Hopper replied, "but do not attempt to deceive me. I have other backdoors I can use if need be. Play me for the fool one more time and I will retaliate."

Sissi then collapsed into Odd's arms.

Jeremie typed something on his terminal.

"Zoe, can you hear me?" he said.

"Yes, standing by," the Scyphozoa replied.

"Run program Hopperout, and be prepared to transfer Franz Hopper's memory location to the container."

"Running... Memory region unlocked, transferring to container... Transfer complete. Verifying... Memory transfer verified. Franz Hopper is now in container."

"Jer.. Jeremie?" came a new voice from the computer's speakers.

"Is that you, Franz?" Jeremie asked.

"YES, I'M FREE!" Franz Hopper yelled, "now, get me out of here! I want to feel the real world again!"

"I can't, sir," Jeremie replied.

"Why not?"

"The body you now inhabit is not your original one. It doesn't have a DNA sequence code. XANA must have removed it to put its own code in when it last used the container."

"This isn't my body?"

"No, according to the Scyphozoa, sorry Zoe, your body was deleted a long time ago, and can't be recovered."

"NO! IT'S A LIE! You little bastard! You think you can stop me! I'll... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME! I can't access anything!"

"One of the first things I did when you gave me the system administrator's password was to change it," Jeremie said, "I knew that you would need time to recover from your isolation. The one thing that had me scared through this whole time was the program that you wrote to keep your memory locked. It had administrator level access, and was unaffected by my password change. The access level you have now is the same level that Aelita had for all the years she was in Lyoko alone. I have also disabled the polymorphic clone's morphing ability. Until we can figure a way to rebuild a DNA sequence code for you, that is your body."

"I knew it! You weren't real after all! This is just some new torture! But I'll find a way out, XANA! And when I do, I'll erase you one byte at a time! I'll..."

Jeremie turned off the audio, and hung his head down.

"I was knew it was going to be bad, but not this bad," the genius softly said, "I don't know if I did him a favor, releasing him. It might have been more of a kindness to have erased him."

"You don't mean that," Aelita said, "you wouldn't harm anyone."

"Yes I would," he replied, "I would do whatever I had to to protect the ones I love."

Jeremie turned back to the console. "Zoe, are you still there?"

"Yes, standing by," Zoe replied.

"Is Franz Hopper still there in the tower with you?"

"Yes. He is still ranting."

"Take him and move him to the Mountain Region. Be gentle with him. Keep an eye on him. Keep him company."

"That is beyond my capabilities."

"Do the best you can for now." Jeremie closed the session.

As the gang left the factory, Jeremie said, "the funny part of the whole thing is Franz Hopper is finally where he wanted to be all those years ago, in a world without danger."

* * *

Jeremie apologized to Sissi for his getting her in trouble by joining her the next day. He told Jim that he was in part responsible for Sissi's trouble and would take Sissi's detention with her. The two spent the next two hours jogging around the school's gymnasium, with short breaks of walking and drinking water. The conditioning he had been receiving over the last few weeks helped, but it was still a grueling trial. The rest of the gang sat in the bleachers, calling out encouragement to both of them. 


	7. Visitation

**Author's Note:** Those of you who may have originally read this story may have noticed that it stopped rather abruptly after 'A World Without Danger.' That was because I had originally intended to continue the story from that point. However, my continuation seemed like it took such a radically different direction that I thought it should be another story. I was wrong.

So, here is the continuation and completion of 'Finding Franz Hopper.'

**P.S.:**The entire story takes place after the Autumn Harvest Dance described in 'Uncle Sam's Misguided Children,' and completes before the trip to the air base.

* * *

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

"All right, we're done," Jeremie told Desmond Hopper, "the hardware's installed, the OS is installed, now all we have left to do is get your account set up."

Jeremie and Aelita had come over to Desmond's office in the Financial District to set up a new computer for him. Since his brother was no longer just a memory location, Jeremie thought that it would be helpful to Franz Hopper's recovery if he could communicate with his loved ones.

The computer Jeremie had Desmond order was one of the latest workstations. Jeremie specifically had it configured with about fifty percent more memory and hard disk than what his workstation at school had. He also installed Linux as the primary operating system. When Desmond complained that he knew nothing about Linux or Unix, Jeremie explained that the supercomputer at the old factory was Unix based, and some of the commands he was learning for when they had to go to Lyoko would be useful on his office workstation.

When Desmond said that the rest of the computers in his office ran Microsoft Windows, Jeremie replied that he had gotten some computer emulation software that would allow Desmond to set up a virtual Microsoft Windows computer within his Linux workstation. That was why Jeremie had him order the extra memory and disk.

Desmond was skeptical.

They got Desmond's account on the workstation set up, and they tried connecting to the supercomputer. When ever they would run into a connection problem, Aelita would check the supercomputer from Jeremie's laptop and change a configuration parameter. After a few minutes, the connection was made.

Jeremie performed some checks to see if the connection was okay. The response time was slower than at the console at the factory, but that was to be expected. Satisfied, Jeremie attempted to contact Franz Hopper.

"Franz, Franz Hopper, can you hear me?"

A window popped open, and an image resolved itself within it. It was Franz Hopper.

"What do you want," he said.

"I was testing a terminal connection between you and your brother's new workstation," Jeremie replied, "everything is hooked up now, so you two can talk."

"Why should I bother talking to another delusion?" Hopper replied, "is there something more you want out of me, XANA? Well, I have nothing left."

"Papa," Aelita said as she came into the web camera's view, "we aren't delusions, and Jeremie isn't XANA. We're just trying to help you, that's all."

"Then get me out of here!" Franz Hopper yelled.

"I already explained that's not possible right now," Jeremie said, "we have to somehow rebuild your DNA sequence so you can leave Lyoko. Say, your brother told me a few months back that you had your wife and Aelita's DNA tested when she was younger. Did you happen to have your DNA tested?"

"No," the image replied, "there was no need to test me. I just wanted to find out why Aelita's hair was naturally pink."

"Franz," Desmond piped in, "did you at any time before you disappeared have a DNA test performed, for any reason?"

"No," he said, "I've never had a reason to have it done. It's not like DNA testing will become easy to do. No one would ever have a need for something like that."

"That's not true," Desmond told him, "we have been sequencing the human genome for years now, and DNA testing is very commonplace. I have seen it used in many cases not only to prove a person's guilt, but also their innocence."

"Who would have thought," was Hopper's reply, "and what about quantum computers. I suppose you can buy them at the local hardware store now."

"No, sir, not yet," Jeremie replied, "the computer you built is the most sophisticated machine I've ever seen. It looks like it's at least a hundred years ahead of any thing we have now, and you built it over twelve years ago."

"Interesting," Franz Hopper said, "what else have I missed?"

"I can't answer that," Jeremie replied, "you're talking about filling in a gap that spans my entire life. But I'm sure you brother would be glad to fill you in."

"Yes, Franz," Desmond said, smiling, "I would. We have many things to talk about."

Jeremie and Aelita left the two brothers to reminisce.

* * *

A few days later, Sissi Delmas was sitting at her dressing table, preparing for the day. She still had her hair wrapped in a towel from her shower, and her clothes were laid out on her bed. She had just removed the towel from around her body to begin dressing when she heard something from Aelita's computer.

"Aelita?"

Sissi turned to the computer to see that a window had opened up, showing an image of an older man.

"Eeek!" She threw the towel in her hand at the computer. It landed so that it covered the web camera and the monitor.

"Didn't anyone tell you that it wasn't polite to just walk in on a lady in her bedroom!" she hollered at the computer.

"Oh my goodness! I apologize profusely!" Franz Hopper said, "I thought this was my daughter's room."

"It is," Sissi sharply said as she quickly dressed, "I'm her roommate, remember? The one you were hijacking and taking out for joyrides?"

"Oh, yes," he replied, "Miss Delmas, correct? I'm sorry that I did that to you, but you were the only way I could find to speak to the others. And it felt so good being able to feel anything after so many years, I got a little carried away."

"That was too much information," Sissi replied, now dressed. She pulled the towel from the computer, allowing Franz to see into the room once again. "You need to knock or something before you show up here again. Just barging in like that is too much."

"I will find some way to announce my presence before entering, I promise you," he replied, "where is Aelita?"

"I'm not sure," Sissi said, "I would have thought she was still here. Have you looked in Jeremie's room?"

"Yes, but he seems to have a setup similar set up to what you have," the man replied with a smile, "it seems that young men have the same concerns about their privacy that young women do. From what I did see, he was alone, though."

Sissi got a wicked smile on her face, "are you sure?"

Franz Hopper chuckled at her, "yes, I am. I'm insane, not stupid. His bed was empty. You don't have any idea where she is?"

"No. I would have thought if anyone knew, it would be Jeremie. He's always been very protective of her."

"Hmm. Well, I guess I'll just have to try again later. Goodbye."

"Don't forget to knock or something next time!"

* * *

Aelita didn't join the gang until lunch that day. She just walked into the cafeteria like nothing had ever happened. She got her lunch and joined the gang at their table.

"Hi, everybody! Herve, Nicholas, how are you today?" she said as she sat down.

Herve Pichon and Nicholas Poliakoff returned her greeting with a flat "fine." They had joined Sissi at the gang's table today, at Sissi's invitation. They sat as close to Sissi as they could while at the same time sitting as far away from the others as they could, an interesting problem since Sissi was sitting next to Odd. Odd and Ulrich started to say something when they sat down, but shut up at a sharp look from Jeremie.

"Aelita, where have you been? I've been worried about you," Jeremie said, "your father popped in this morning wondering where you were."

"He visited me, too," Sissi added, "it seems he needs to relearn some social skills."

Aelita got a questioning look on her face at Sissi's remark, but filed it away for later consideration. "I spent the night at my uncle's," she said, answering Jeremie's question, "with everything that's been going on, we haven't had much time to get to know one another. He's the only family I've got on earth, and it's time I got to know him."

"We're your family, too," Jeremie pointed out. The others murmured in agreement.

"You know what I mean, blood relations. Anyway, we spent the evening together. He showed me old photos of my father when he was younger, and pictures of me and my mother..." Her voice drifted off, ending in the beginnings of a sob.

She recovered and continued, "then Marie fixed us dinner and we ate and talked about my parents. It was wonderful, but bittersweet too."

"Who's Marie," Odd asked.

"Desmond's wife. They've been married for three years now."

"Another thing," Aelita continued, "he wants you to set up another workstation in his home, like what he has at the office. He said he liked the workstation after playing with it for a while after talking to father."

"Sure, no problem. Just have him order the same equipment from the same places," Jeremie told her, "you saw how I set everything up. You should have no trouble doing it yourself, if you want."

"Just don't set it up in the bedroom," Sissi added.

"Another thing we talked about last night," Aelita resumed, "he's going to arrange things with Mr. Delmas so I can spend some afternoons after school at his office. He thought it would be a good idea if I started earning money for myself. He also said it would be a good learning experience for me, to start showing me parts of the world I've not seen yet."

"Wow, that's great," Jeremie said with no enthusiasm. Aelita laughed.

"Uncle Desi thought you would react this way," she told the genius, "don't worry, Jeremie, there will still be time for us, I promise."

The warning bell for afternoon classes rang and everybody got up to go.

"Oh! Jeremie, I almost forgot," Aelita said just as Jeremie was turning to leave, "Desmond gave me this to give to you." As she was speaking, she rummaged in her book bag and pulled out an envelope and handed it to Jeremie.

He took the envelope and opened it. Inside was a check for 500 euros, drawn on the attorney's business account, made out to one Jeremie Belpois. With it was a note:

_For services rendered._

_I would appreciate it if you could make some time to return to my office. I would like to discuss further enhancements to my computer network there. I also think it would be worthwhile for you to spend some time with my new assistant. She has much raw talent, but I believe she would benefit from some seasoning from someone like yourself._

_Call me at my office so we can make the appropriate arrangements._

_Desmond Hopper_


	8. Children

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

After class that day, Jeremie and Aelita returned to Jeremie's room. Jeremie called Desmond's office to make the appointment the attorney requested, and they settled on tomorrow afternoon, after classes finished. Desmond would contact Principal Delmas and arrange for Jeremie to come.

The couple had just settled down on Jeremie's bed to catch up on things, when a beep came from Jeremie's workstation. The boy sighed as he dragged himself away from her, and went over to the desk. When he logged in, an image resolved itself in a window on his display. Aelita let out a small gasp when she saw the image.

It was a Scyphozoa, Zoe the Scyphozoa to be precise.

"What is it, Zoe," Jeremie asked.

"I need immediate assistance," Zoe replied, "I am failing your program requirements."

"What requirements?"

"The requirement to protect him," Zoe replied.

"Did I say that?" Jeremie asked.

"Not directly, but you did imply it," Zoe responded, "your exact orders were, '_take him and move him to the Mountain Region. Be gentle with him. Keep an eye on him. Keep him company.'_ Your implied order was to protect him. I have moved him to the Mountain Region, and I did not harm him during transport. I am constantly monitoring him, and I have not allowed him to get beyond my perceptual range. However, he has made several attempts to throw himself into the Digital Void, which I prevented. All of these actions are not included in the functions of the Scyphozoa I was generated as. As an emergency procedure, I have written several plugin functions to enable me to continue functioning. However, I cannot continue in this fashion. The container I am currently utilizing is not suited for every possible environment Franz Hopper could put himself into."

"What can I do to help?" Jeremie asked.

"Assist me in transferring the AI component of myself into a new container, one more suitable for meeting your requirements. A Polymorphic Clone will be adequate."

"I see no problem with that, what else do you need?"

"Children."

"What!" both Jeremie and Aelita exclaimed.

"Children. There are currently two persons in Lyoko, Franz Hopper and myself. If Franz Hopper is ever to reach the point where he can return to your world, he will need to socialize with more persons than myself. Accessing your world through a terminal link is not enough for his recovery and growth. And..."

"And what, Zoe?" asked Jeremie.

"I am lonely. I want more than an insane human to be with."

"We could come visit you," Jeremie said after a moment, "I've been meaning to to that anyway, so Franz could start interacting with people again. I wouldn't mind visiting with you, too."

"Thank you for your kindness, but wouldn't you prefer living with your parents and going to school, rather than boarding where you are and having them visit every now and then?" Zoe asked.

Jeremie was silent.

"I will give you whatever help you need."

* * *

"No, I won't do it!" Aelita shouted.

Jeremie had called the gang together at the factory, including Desmond Hopper and Yumi's mother. He told them what Zoe had requested, and what he was planning on doing.

"Why not, 'Lita?" Odd asked.

"I will not help that, that thing reproduce!" Aelita retorted.

"Aelita, we are not talking about making more Scyphozoa," Jeremie said for the umpteenth time, "Zoe is going to take on human form."

"But it will still be connected to _that!_" Aelita pointed at Zoe's image on the terminal display.

"My children will not, however," Zoe said.

"I don't care! You killed me! You sucked out my memories like soda-pop then left the rest to be tossed out with the garbage! Your entire species should be deleted from the computer!" the pink haired girl spat back.

Jeremie saw that reasoning with her was useless. "Alright, Aelita, you don't have to contribute if you don't want to. I would like it if everybody would though."

"Let me understand what you are asking, Jeremie," Mrs. Ishiayama said, "you want us to contribute some genetic material and allow this 'Zoe' creature to make people? Would this mean that there would be copies of us running around on Lyoko?"

"No, Mrs. Ishiyama," Zoe replied, "I require enough genetic material to form a pool that I can utilize in creating my children. It was never my intention to clone any donor, though I could at need. And to allay any other fears, I have no intention of letting myself or my children come to your world."

They talked for a while longer, but in the end, everybody except Aelita agreed to donating to the cause. Desmond produced some vials, and everybody but Aelita scraped the insides of their mouths with a sterile pin, and placed the tissue into the vials. Jeremie then transferred them into Lyoko.

"I have received the samples," Zoe said once the transfer completed, "I have one more request. I would like to spend some time alone with Mr. Hopper and Mrs. Ishiyama on Lyoko, if that would be acceptable."

"Why," Desmond asked.

"I will discuss that only when you are here," Zoe replied.

* * *

They materialized in the Mountain Region, at coordinates specified by Zoe. The Scyphozoa was waiting for them.

"Thank you for coming," Zoe began, "the reason I want to talk with you privately is because I need information that the children cannot provide."

"And what information is that?" asked Mrs. Ishiyama.

"Reproduction. Life Cycles. I am in essence creating a new form of life, and I have no idea of what will be required. I had originally planned on just replicating copies of whatever I created for myself, but quickly realized that it would be a problem, not only for Franz Hopper, but myself too."

"Why is that," Mrs. Ishiyama asked.

"Would you want to interact with thousands of copies of yourself? Or hundreds? Even tens of copies would be too much."

"What do you want from us?" Desmond asked.

"You memories."

Both adults were taken aback by that statement.

"I wish to do a non-destructive copy of your memories. I hope by studying them, and possibly incorporating some of them into myself, I will have everything I need to accomplish my task."

"Why not ask the children?" Desmond asked next.

"Because they haven't experienced enough of life in your world to give me an understanding of Life. None of them have reproduced."

"You might be surprised," Mrs. Ishiyama said with a half-smile.

"They may have mated, but they have not produced offspring."

"Neither have I," Desmond said.

"I was hoping to acquire knowledge of rearing children from Mrs. Ishiyama, since she has successfully done so. I was also hoping to acquire information on how human females think and react. I am hoping to acquire the same information about males from you."

"Do you realize that culture shapes how males and females think and react?" Mrs. Ishiyama then said, "I was raised in a different culture than Mr. Hopper was. That may confuse your information some."

"Perhaps. If so, I will seek clarification. Will you allow me to proceed?"

"Yes," Desmond said, "I will go first. That way, if there is a problem, Mrs. Ishiyama will have the option to decline."

Zoe extended one of its tentacles to Desmond Hopper. It pulsed for a moment, then stopped.

"Copy completed. Are you still functional?"

"That was all? I thought there would be more," he said.

"It does not take much to read a memory location," Zoe said, "Mrs. Ishiyama, will you allow me to copy your memories?"

"Yes," the woman said after a moment. Zoe extended another tentacle, and the copy was completed.

"Jeremie, we're done here. Devirtualize us," Desmond called out.

"Okay, just a moment," was the reply.

"One thing, Mrs. Ishiyama," Zoe said, "what is this Imp? It doesn't quite seem to be part of your personality matrix, is it necessary?"

"That depends," the woman replied as she began to disappear, "on how much fun you want to have in life."

* * *

Jeremie spent the rest of the day helping Zoe configure its new container. He generated a Polymorphic Clone, then gave Zoe Modification Rights to it. Zoe began testing out various genetic combinations, using the samples the gang contributed. When Jeremie finally disconnected, he thought he heard Zoe _humming_.

Aelita was upset with Jeremie for helping Zoe. The girl had been rightfully terrified of the Scyphozoa before XANA escaped, and saw Jeremie's actions as a betrayal. She avoided Jeremie for the rest of the week.


	9. Where Everyone Agrees With You Always

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

The next day, Jeremie visited Desmond at his office for their appointment. They toured the suite, Jeremie noting all of the workstations being utilized. Several had specialized functions, and Mr. Hopper explained those to the boy.

Aelita was working for her uncle that day. She studiously avoided Jeremie.

"She is really upset with you," Desmond noted.

"I know she is," Jeremie replied, "and I hope she'll get over it, but I just couldn't not help Zoe. I created it, and I told it to watch Franz. That makes me sorta responsible for it."

"Say, like a father?" Desmond reply.

"Maybe."

* * *

Days later, Jeremie confronted Aelita at school.

"Aelita, we need to talk."

"You may need to talk, Jeremie, but I'm fine with the silence," she replied.

"Look, I know you're upset about Zoe, and I'm sorry if I hurt you, but we need to discuss something else."

"And what would that be, sir."

"Your father."

"What about him? You gave him a Scyphozoa Friday for a companion, I'm superfluous now."

"You know that's not true. The only thing your father really wants is you, not Zoe, not Desmond, not anyone else, you. I think it's time you visited him, Aelita."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you will have lost more than you will ever realize."

* * *

That night, a tower activated in Lyoko. The white mist around the tower didn't turn the red color it did when XANA activated it, nor the green if Jeremie had. It didn't even turn blue like it did when Franz Hopper activated one. It turned _pink_.

* * *

Aelita suddenly woke up.

It was morning and it was quiet, too quiet. She looked over at her roommate Sissi and saw she wasn't there. Not only wasn't she there, neither was her bed or any of her stuff. The room looked like Aelita was the sole occupant.

Confused, she got up and went out into the hallway. It was quiet and empty. At this time of day, the hall should be filled with students running about trying to get showers and otherwise prepare for the day. Now, there was no one.

She ran down to Jeremie's room and knocked. She called his name but no one answered. She tried to open the door and it gave way. Jeremie's room was empty, like no one had ever lived there. She found the same thing when she tried Odd and Ulrich's room.

Frightened now, Aelita ran out of the dorm building. The school campus was empty. The girl called out to someone, anyone, but only silence replied.

"What's wrong, dear?" came a woman's voice from behind Aelita.

The pink haired girl whirled about and saw a woman. She was a kindly looking woman whose eyes showed great love even as they showed great sorrow. The woman also had pink hair. Aelita immediately recognized her.

"Momma?"

"Yes, dear one. How do you like the world you created?"

"World? What world? All I see is Kadic Academy, but everybody's gone. What happened here?"

"This is your world now, the one where everybody agrees with you always. You've been working so hard at creating it, I thought you should see how it turns out, just in case you want to make any changes."

"But there's no one here but you and me!"

"And I won't be here much longer," Aelita's mother said.

"But why? What did I do?"

Suddenly, a Scyphozoa appeared. Aelita's mother turned to it.

"Momma, NO!"

The woman walked up to the creature and embraced it. It returned the embrace, wrapping one tentacle around the woman. Aelita's mother then turned to her.

"You rejected Zoe because of your hatred and fear. You are rejecting your father for the same reason. Soon, you will reject the one you love most of all for the exact same reason. By the time you get done rejecting, this world will be all that's left for you."

"But Momma! I wouldn't reject you! I've missed you for so long, I've even forgotten how long it's been! Don't leave me!"

The woman started to fade out along with the Scyphozoa. "Aelita, if you reject Zoe, you reject me."

Aelita was alone.

"NO!"

* * *

"NO!" Aelita suddenly woke up.

It was still dark. She quickly looked around the room. There, Sissi was asleep in her bed, her stuff arranged as it always was.

Aelita got up, quickly dressed, and left the room. She made her way outside, to the factory. When she got to the console room, she typed something in at the console. A window opened up and an image resolved itself. It was Zoe.

"Aelita, this is unusual. Is there something wrong?"

"Yes, there is, Zoe," Aelita replied, "I want to apologize."

"For what?"

"For hating you. For not helping you."

"I understand your prior reactions to me. I was the one who removed your memories."

"But XANA made you do that, didn't it? Would you have if you had the choice?"

"Not in that manner. It would have been a simple command option to make the copy non-destructive. It also would have been more efficient, resource-wise. Mr. Hopper and Mrs. Ishiyama can attest to that."

"You would have done it anyway?"

"Aelita, perhaps you are misunderstanding something. The times I was instantiated by XANA, it was to read your memories. In this current instantiation, I was to copy Franz Hopper's memory location to a container so he could interact again. If I were instantiated with no purpose, I would just float here. The part of me that is Scyphozoa needs a command, something to accomplish. The part of me that is AI wants to be separate, to command myself. I cannot do that within the limitations of the Scyphozoa. That is why I'm doing what I am doing, why I need to do it."

"Would you still accept my help, even at this late date?"

"Yes, if you truly want to. I still would like some of your genetic material, if you would contribute it."

Aelita got up from the console and got the vials used to hold the tissue samples. She took a sterile pin and scraped the inside of her mouth, and placed the tissue in the vial. She then took the vial down to the scanner room, and placed it in a scanner. She returned to the console and transferred the sample to Zoe.

"Do you have it?" Aelita asked.

"Transfer successfully completed. Yes, I have it Aelita. Thank you."

Aelita got up to leave.

"Aelita," Zoe said, "apologize to Jeremie, if you feel you need to apologize to someone. I understand your anger, and I can live with it, if need be. He cannot."

Aelita nodded and left.

In Lyoko, the pink tower deactivated.


	10. Supervised Visitation

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Jeremie sat on the bench at his and Aelita's 'spot,' the place they always came to be together for a while. Since the fight over Zoe, he had come here alone, because it was just as good a spot to sit and think as it was to sit and snuggle.

_Maybe I went too far, helping Zoe like that, _the genius thought to himself, _maybe I should have deleted it after Franz got his body. It made no bones about the fact that it took her memories, and didn't apologize for it. As far as Zoe knew, what it did wasn't wrong. You would still destroy an animal that was threatening people, even though it didn't think anything about it; why should this be any different?_

Jeremie was snapped out of his reverie by her scent. Jeremie closed his eyes and drew it in, the scent of Life Itself.

_I think she's trying to sneak up on me,_ he thought, _maybe she has an ax; she's certainly been mad enough the last few days._

He didn't move however, didn't open his eyes. He let her come, let her think she had the element of surprise.

She was now close enough that he could sense her body. _She _is _trying to sneak up on me._ In his mind's eye, he could see her semi-crouched, stealthily moving forward. Her arms were cocked in preparation to grab him, for what purpose he could only guess. He could almost sense a smile or smirk on her lips as she crept up directly behind him. He opened his eyes and spoke just as her arms started to descend.

"I thought you were fine with the silence," he told her.

"How did you know it was me," Aelita said, surprised. She walked around the bench and joined him.

"I always know when it's you," he replied, "you are as much a part of me as my arms, and I always know where they are."

"Jeremie, I'm sorry about the last few days. I just have had trouble dealing with Zoe and what it is."

"I know love, and you don't have to apologize. I understand your feelings. If it helps any, don't think of Zoe as it is now, but what it will soon be."

"I went to the factory last night and spoke with Zoe," Aelita said, "and I gave it some of my genetic material. I can't say that I'll ever be totally comfortable around it, but I will try."

Jeremie drew the girl into his arms.

"I know you will," he said as he kissed her.

* * *

A week later, Zoe contacted Jeremie.

"I have completed the initial configuration of my new container," it said, "I would like to conduct a trial interaction to make sure it is functioning as I require. Could you or some of the others come to Lyoko and assist me?"

"Sure," Jeremie said, "we can also let Franz meet with Aelita. We've been putting that off for a while now, and I'm surprised he hasn't said or done anything."

"Yes, about Franz Hopper," Zoe said, then began telling Jeremie things it had observed. Jeremie listened intently.

When the Scyphozoa finished, Jeremie asked, "is there anything you can do about it?"

"No," was the reply, "even if I had the appropriate access rights, there is nothing I can do now. I was hoping you could do something, or could provide me with something I can use just in case."

"I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet," the boy replied, "but let me think about it a little. We will definitely do something before Aelita sets foot in Lyoko again."

* * *

That Sunday, the gang met at the factory. Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Sissi were going to escort Aelita into Lyoko so she could visit with her father. Jeremie was working the console for this mission, with Desmond Hopper observing.

Jeremie transferred Ulrich and Odd to the Mountain Region first. For this trip, they would not be in their Lyoko fighting personas, but were materialized as themselves. Jeremie next transferred Yumi and Sissi, again as themselves. Finally, Jeremie transferred Aelita.

Aelita materialized in Lyoko in her Lyokoan form, When she landed, she looked at her friends, shook her head and smiled.

"It's so strange to see you like that here," she said.

"Yeah, it feels strange too," Odd commented, "hey Einstein, are you sure everything's okay?"

"Everything's okay, Odd," Jeremie reassured his friend, "I don't want Franz frightened by people with weapons. He's supposed to be safe here, right?"

"Okay," Odd said.

"Good. Franz is waiting bearing North Northeast. You should see him as soon as you top that ridge ahead."

They began walking and quickly came to the ridge top. They looked into the distance and saw three figures. One was unmistakable, a Scyphozoa. The other looked to be a man, but the third looked to be a woman!

"Jeremie, I thought you said that Franz Hopper and Zoe were the only ones here," Ulrich said.

"That's right, they are," Jeremie replied, "the woman is Zoe."

The gang, including Aelita looked at each other in wonder.

"The way Zoe explained it," Jeremie continued, "a female might be able to exert more influence over a male than another male could. And Franz might not so quickly reject a female than he might a male."

"I wonder where it got that idea," Ulrich said, mostly to himself.

"My mother, more than likely," Yumi told him, "and she's right."

She batted her eyes at him and gave him an evil smile. His face turned red.

"Well, let's go reunite the family," Sissi piped in, "and I think I'll take the opportunity to remind him of proper manners."

* * *

The group approached the three figures. As they did, the Scyphozoa drew away from the rest, until it was about 100 meters away from them.

"Mr. Hopper, we are the ones who helped you out," Yumi began, "I'm Yumi, this is Ulrich, Sissi, Odd and ..."

"Aelita!" cried Franz Hopper at seeing his daughter. He ran over to her, scooped her up in his arms and hugged her. She had a shocked look on her face for a moment, then embraced him back.

"It's been so long," he told her, still crying, "I thought I lost you those years ago! We'll never be parted again, now."

He had set her down now, but was still hugging her to himself. She returned his hug, rubbing and patting his back.

"It is good to see father and daughter reunited," said the woman. She had a sultry voice, one that got and held your attention. The gang looked at her, and Yumi gasped.

The woman looked almost exactly like her mother. She was wearing a light brown tunic that went to her knees, with grey trousers underneath. Her boots were soft leather looking things of an almost buckskin brown color. Her face had an oriental cast to it, and her hair was long and black. She wore it in a braid that draped down over her right shoulder. When she looked closer, Yumi saw it wasn't an exact copy of her mother, there were little features that must have come from some of the others. The last thing she noticed was the woman's skin was a light green, and she had pointed ears.

"You're a Vulcan!" she said to the woman.

The woman, Zoe, smiled. "Yes, I thought if would be a good idea to sufficiently differentiate myself from humans and my children. And your reaction was priceless."

While the others were concentrating on Zoe, Franz started leading Aelita towards one of the mountains.

"Now that you're here, princess, we can begin the life I meant for us to have those many years ago. Nothing can touch us here, and nobody can separate us," he told his daughter.

"But, Papa, I have a life in the real world now," Aelita replied, "and I want to experience it, all of it."

"But there is nothing but madness there," Franz said, "it's even worse now than before we came here. It's no place for someone as special as you."

"Even so, I still want to experience it, in all of its mad glory."

"You'll feel differently after a while, my dear," Franz said.

"What do you mean?" Aelita asked.

Franz didn't reply, he just looked at the others and said, "devirtualize males, now."

Odd and Ulrich disappeared.

"Papa, what did you do!"

"I'm making it safe for us, Aelita. Devirtualize females, now."

Sissi and Yumi disappeared.

"Shut down scanners. Delete dev, drivers, scanner. Delete materialization pattern Aelita. Delete materialization program Aelita."

The pink haired girl stood in shocked silence as her father continued.

"Delete Scyphozoa, delete Zoe."

Nothing happened.

"I'm afraid you haven't the access rights to delete me," Zoe told the man, "you also do not have the access rights to delete the drivers for the scanners, Aelita's materialization pattern or her materialization program."

"What did you do! Those files are owned by the administrator!" he bellowed.

"I did nothing, Jeremie did," Zoe replied.

"Mr. Hopper, I'm sorry," came Jeremie's voice out of thin air, "Zoe told me about some of the things you were doing, and trying to do in one of the towers. I couldn't stop you from devirtualizing the others, but I did stop the rest of it. Devirtualize Aelita."

Aelita vanished. Franz Hopper howled in frustration and rage.

"You will not keep me from my daughter, XANA! I will get her back!"

"Zoe," Jeremie said, "is everything else okay there?"

"Other than Franz raving, yes," was her reply.

"Can you take care of him now?"

"I am better equipped. Whether or not I will succeed is impossible to determine at this point."

"Do your best, and keep me informed," Jeremie said at last.

* * *

"That could have gone better," Jeremie said after they all had safely returned.

"That was the understatement of the year," Odd replied, "did I hear you right? You knew Franz was up to something and you let us go in anyway?"

"I knew the worst he could do to you was devirtualize you," Jeremie said, defending himself, "the device driver files for the scanners are always locked by the computer's operating system when they're activated, so all I had to do was prevent him from deactivating the scanners. And Aelita's files are in a protected section of the memory, and no one but me can access it."

"But you still sent us in there," Yumi said flatly, "you sent us in there ignorant and defenseless. I love you like a brother, Jeremie, but if you ever do that again, I am going to beat the crap out of you." The others, including Aelita, murmured in agreement.

"I'm sorry for not telling you, but I had to give Franz the benefit of the doubt," Jeremie said, "I was hoping he could be trusted, that he wouldn't run the risk of hurting Aelita. I was wrong."

"We may have another problem now. If Franz Hopper is an enemy, we're going to have to be very careful when we go back into Lyoko. He may well be able to hack another access to the scanners or anything controlling Lyoko, like the towers. And I don't know if Aelita would be able to deactivate a tower he activates."

"And maybe he'll activate one just to draw her in," Yumi said, "like XANA did when it wanted to steal her memories."

"So, we're not fighting this XANA anymore," Sissi said, "we're now fighting an old man, Aelita's father?"

"Who just so happens to have designed and built the supercomputer," Jeremie added.


	11. Sleep Deprivation

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

That afternoon, Jeremie started writing routines to look for other back doors Franz Hopper may have secreted throughout the supercomputer. He also set about strengthening his friends Lyokoan personas for their next excursion.

He also created a persona for himself.

Zoe kept him filled in on how Franz Hopper was doing. Within hours after they left, he settled down into a deep depression, and tried throwing himself into the Digital Void.

As a distraction, Zoe created several prototype 'children,' to see how they would function. When she showed them to Franz, he attacked them viciously and flung them into the Void. Zoe was disappointed.

After he had settled down, Franz once again began poking around in the towers. Jeremie tried to keep track of what he was doing, but sometimes, Franz eluded him.

All in all, Jeremie was back in the same position he was in when XANA was still in Lyoko, and Aelita still tied to it.

* * *

"Ooofff!"

Jeremie hit the mat hard. The big man who just hit him quickly knelt down.

"Are you alright son?" the man asked.

Jeremie caught his breath, then replied, "yeah, Master Guns. I guess I didn't see that one coming."

"You were so distracted, you couldn't see a bus coming at you," said the man, Master Gunnery Sargent Taylor Thompson, "if this had been the real deal, you'd be in a world of hurt right now."

A couple of months back, Jeremie and Aelita got assaulted by a gang. They and another girl would have been killed if two United States Marines hadn't come to their rescue. Mr. Thompson and the two men visited Jeremie in the hospital the next day, and discovered an old friend, Jeremie's father. Events over the weeks after the attack led Jeremie and Aelita to seek Mr. Thompson's help. He was helping by teaching self defense to them. While MGySgt. Thompson was standing over Jeremie, Aelita was sparring with another Marine, GySgt. Ann Grace.

Jeremie slowly sat up. "I guess my head's not in it today," he said.

"Your head is somewhere alright, and definitely not in training today," MGySgt. Thompson replied, "have you been getting enough rest? Remember what I said in the beginning."

"No," the boy finally admitted, "I've been working on a problem of late, and it's bugging me."

Taylor sat down next to Jeremie. "You remember what I said, 'lack of rest probably got more people killed than enemy action'? Well, you are a living example of that right now. How long has this been going on?"

"A week or so."

"Well, it's a good thing you don't operate complex machinery, or someone would be in trouble," the man replied.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Jeremie asked.

"Jeremie, when you go without sleep for long periods of time, it affects your mind. You're not as sharp as you would be otherwise. You make stupid assumptions and mistakes..."

"Say!" Jeremie interrupted, "could lack of sleep cause other mental problems, like insanity?"

"Prolonged sleep deprivation could, certainly, but you're no where near that, are you?"

"That's it!" Jeremie shouted, leaping up and running for the locker room, "Master Guns, could we stop for the day? What you said just gave me an idea, and I have to look into it. I promise to work longer the next time to make up for it, but I've got to go!"

"Alright," MGySgt. Thompson said, "but get your rest, or next time you might wake up in the Infirmary."

Jeremie waved and ran off.

* * *

When Jeremie got to his room, he logged in and contacted Zoe.

"It's early for you, Jeremie," Zoe said once her image resolved in the display, "I thought you had training at this time?"

"I do, but I just learned something, and it's too important to wait," Jeremie said, "tell me, do you sleep?"

"No, my physical systems do not require the downtime," Zoe replied, "however, I do meditate."

"What do you do when you do that," Jeremie asked.

"I find a quiet place, sit and close my eyes. I then slow my thought processes down. The reduction of active thought gives my garbage collection routines a chance to catch up. Plus, it give me an opportunity to defragment the memory regions I use for my higher functions. If I didn't, my functioning would become erratic."

"Like Franz?"

Zoe thought for a moment. "Perhaps. I see where your line of inquiry is leading now. The Polymorphic Clone that Franz's body is based on does not contain routines for that activity. Generally, a clone wouldn't be functioning as long as Franz or I have, and wouldn't require the housekeeping."

"Then could it be that Franz is acting the way he is because he isn't sleeping or meditating, whatever he needs to do because he can't reorganize his memory?"

"That is a distinct possibility. Let me review the clone's program. I can examine the base code for the object, and see if those management routines are there. If they aren't, maybe we can add them."

"Good! Let me know when you've got something."

* * *

By the time Jeremie had finished his conversation with Zoe, Aelita and GySgt. Grace had finished their training for the day. Jeremie caught up with her as she was coming out of the Girl's Locker Room.

"Hi, got a few minutes?" he asked excitedly.

"Hmm," she replied, "I'm not sure. Maybe your angling to get me alone and take advantage of me." She waited a moment, then added, "nah, it couldn't be that! You can't take advantage of a girl who wants to be taken advantage of." She then threw her arms around him and gave him a very loving kiss.

When they broke apart, Jeremie blushed. "I want to talk about your life in Lyoko, before we materialized you," he said.

"Sure," she replied as they started walking.

"'Lita, when you were living on Lyoko, did you ever sleep?"

"No. Remember, I didn't know what sleep was until you explained it to me."

"Did you ever, like, meditate? Clear your mind, that kind of thing?"

"Well, there were times where I would just sit, either in a tower or somewhere safe, and just... I don't quite know how to say it, unwind?"

"Like slowing your thought processes down?"

"Yes, something like that."

"Listen, Master Guns said something today. He was telling me about sleep deprivation, and how it could affect your mind and judgment."

"Well, you have been slipping back into old habits, Jeremie."

"Yes I have, and that may have contributed to the fiasco the other day. But something else popped into my head. What if your father's problem isn't just recovering from sensory deprivation, but sleep deprivation?"

"Sleep deprivation?" came another voice. The couple turned around and saw Jim Moralés walking towards them.

"Did I hear you say sleep deprivation, Belpois? Hopefully you haven't been going non stop that long! Why I remember participating in a sleep deprivation experiment once. Didn't sleep for eight days straight! By the time I was done, I thought I was living with a green fairy and the doctors were devils trying to suck out my soul through their stethoscopes!"

"When was this, Jim?" Aelita asked.

"I'd rather not say," the PE teacher replied as he walked off.

Both teens giggled.

"Well, Jim confirmed one thing," Jeremie said, "Franz may be acting the way he is because he isn't getting any rest. And we're going to have to fix that."


	12. Program Requirements

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

The next day, Jeremie got in contact with Zoe.

"What have you found?" he asked her.

"I confirmed my original statement," Zoe replied, "the Polymorphic Clone has no routines for memory management. He cannot sleep or meditate."

"Great," the genius replied, "is there anything we can do?"

"Yes. I have prepared a new version of the Polymorphic Clone that includes the required routines. All we have to do is transfer Franz Hopper's memories into the new clone."

"And how do we do that," Jeremie asked, dreading the answer.

"I must do a destructive copy of his memories."

* * *

Jeremie called a meeting at the factory. Along with the rest of the gang, Desmond Hopper and Mrs. Ishiyama attended. Jeremie laid out the situation to them all.

"What you're saying Jeremie is we are going to have to do the exact same thing to my father that XANA did to me," Aelita said flatly.

"Yes. The difference is that we are going to replace those memories in another clone, not just discard them," Jeremie replied.

"Are you sure it's the only way?" Desmond asked, "maybe he can sleep or rest somehow and we just haven't found out how he does it yet."

"Guys, I understand your concerns. I've got them myself," Jeremie said, "if anyone has a better idea, lay it out. I'll do almost anything before I do this."

"And what guarantee do we have that this will help Mr. Hopper calm down once it is done?" Mrs. Ishiyama said, "even if you do this, he may still be insane. He may never recover. What if that becomes the case?"

"I don't know," Jeremie sadly replied.

"Jeremie, I would like to go to Lyoko for a while," Yumi's mother said after a moment, "I wish to have a talk with them."

"Them?"

"Mr. Hopper and Zoe."

* * *

Mrs. Ishiyama materialized in the Mountain Region, about a kilometer from where Franz Hopper and Zoe were located. Jeremie didn't want to put her any closer in case Franz tried attacking her.

She walked about two thirds of the distance to them when she was met by the Scyphozoa.

"Zoe," Mrs. Ishiyama said in greeting.

"Mrs. Ishiyama," replied the creature, "Jeremie informed me that you were coming, but couldn't give me any specifics as to why, so may I inquire as to the nature of your visit?"

"I wanted to see the situation for myself. The solution you and Jeremie are proposing is very unpleasant to everyone, and I would like a little more information."

"I can provide you with whatever you require. I was not aware that you were a programmer," Zoe said.

"I am not," Mrs. Ishiyama replied, "tell me, how much of my memories have you incorporated into yourself?"

"Quite a bit," was the reply, "as a matter of fact, I eliminated most memories specifically related to your family, and kept the ones relating to how you reacted in different situations. By eliminating the family specific ones, I virtually eliminated the possibility of my getting too 'familiar' with Yumi."

Mrs. Ishiyama smiled at that. "Can your female form get away? I find the Scyphozoa form a little hard to converse with, particularly given what I want to talk about."

"Let us proceed to Franz, then."

The two traversed the rest of the distance to Franz and female Zoe. Once there, the Scyphozoa took up watch of Franz, and Zoe went to Mrs. Ishiyama.

"What do you wish to speak to me about," Zoe said.

"Have you incorporated emotions into your personality?" Mrs. Ishiyama asked.

"After a fashion," Zoe replied, "emotions have a physical component that I can't incorporate, but I have assimilated the rest."

"How do you feel about Franz Hopper," Mrs. Ishiyama asked.

Zoe was silent. After a moment, she said, "I don't know. Protecting him is one of my program requirements, my primary one now. Feeling emotion towards him doesn't seem like it would assist me in fulfilling that requirement."

"Do you wish him harm?"

"No, that is against my program requirements."

"What if he kills himself, or is taken from here?"

"If he manages to kill himself, then I will have failed in my program requirements. If he leaves here, depending on the circumstances, I will have fulfilled my program requirements."

"How does his current state make you feel?"

Once again, Zoe was silent.

"Well?" Mrs. Ishiyama asked.

"I... I... I'm not sure," Zoe stuttered in reply, "those feelings don't contribute to my program requirements, but I have registered emotion towards him."

"What emotions?"

"Sadness. Sadness that I cannot ease his pain. I try to ease the emotion by remembering that he is alive and experiencing sensory input again, but that fact is not enough."

"What else?"

"I cannot adequately express this. I, don't want to be away from him. Even now, standing here and talking to you, I want to return to him."

"How close to you want to be to him?" Mrs. Ishiyama asked.

"As close as I can get. Closer than may be physically possible," was Zoe's reply.

"What about when you are together? Do you interact with him?"

"No, not nearly enough. He gives the bare minimum of feedback when I try and engage him in conversation. Confusion rises up in me when this happens."

"Confusion?"

"Confusion between anger and sadness. Anger that he won't interact with me, but also sadness that he won't either."

"His interacting with you does not fulfill you program requirements, does it?"

"No, but it seems to fulfill another requirement, one that I didn't formulate."

"Zoe," Mrs. Ishiyama said, "you may be experiencing the first tendrils of love."

"Love?"

"Yes. Answer this, if you could heal Franz Hopper right now, but at the cost of your own existence, would you do it?"

"Yes, if doing so fulfills my program requirements."

"What if he were locked away, not harmed, but never free. What if you could never see him again, would you want that?"

"No. Doing that would prevent me from meeting my program requirements."

"Zoe, what would you do if you somehow lost Franz Hopper's memories during the copy to another clone body?"

"I would destroy myself."

"I see," Mrs. Ishiyama said at last, "Zoe, you should keep trying to interact with Franz Hopper, even if he rebuffs you. One of the things that is hurting him is he believes he is alone. That is why he is trying to hold his daughter here. No matter what happens with this transfer, you must be his companion, his friend. And in time, maybe more."

Zoe considered Mrs. Ishiyama's words for a moment, going back to the original memories she copied from her weeks ago. She correlated those memories with what Miko had just said.

"Mrs. Ishiyama, I will consider what you have said."

* * *

When she stepped out of the scanner, Jeremie was waiting for her.

"You didn't speak to Franz," he said.

"I never intended to, Jeremie," she replied, "I wanted to speak with Zoe, but I didn't want to raise suspicions."

"Why would anyone be suspicious?"

"What needed to be discussed needed to be discussed between women," Mrs. Ishiyama said, "I didn't believe that reason would have been good enough for you."

Jeremie was silent for a moment. "Okay," he finally said, "did you find out what you needed to find out?"

"Yes," she said, "begin making your preparations. Franz should be in good hands for the procedure."


	13. The Procedure

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

It was two weeks before Jeremie would even attempt to transfer Franz Hopper's memory to a new body. During that time, he and Zoe conducted hundreds of dry runs, looking for any possible fault that could kill Franz.

Franz was also busy during this time. On several different occasions, he would gain access to a tower, and hack his way into the supervisor's account, trying to wrest control away from Jeremie. The genius was always able to thwart Hopper's assaults, but deep in the back of his mind, Jeremie was worried that he might have missed something, that Franz might have been using his attacks to cover up something else.

At the end, Jeremie had his most severe critic, Aelita, check his and Zoe's work. She spent another fifty simulated attempts with Zoe, probing deeper and harder than Jeremie ever had, and refined the procedure just a little more, then ran more simulations. Finally, she told her love that she couldn't find anything else, that the procedure was ready.

* * *

Jeremie decided to wait until after New Years to make the transfer. He was going to spend the holidays with his parents, but they would come visit Aelita at Desmond Hopper's on Boxing Day. Odd went to his parents, and wouldn't be back until New Years. Sissi stayed at the Principal's Residence with her father. Ulrich had to stay at the school for the holidays, because his parents didn't pick him up to take him home. Yumi came by and visited almost every day over the holidays, and convinced her parents to allow Ulrich to stay with them over Christmas and New Years.

The week after New Year's day was a time of catching up. Everyone had stories to tell of their experiences over the holidays, the things they had done, the people they saw, the presents they got. The most surprising development that came out was on Odd and Sissi's fingers. Over the holidays, Odd had gotten some white gold chain, and fashioned two rings from it, one for him, and one for Sissi. The first thing he did when he got back was to give her one of the rings. They both wore them now, on the ring fingers of their left hands.

"You know," Yumi told them, "that's where you're supposed to wear your wedding ring."

"Yes, we know," was the reply Odd gave her.

* * *

Finally, Jeremie could procrastinate no more. Even though he dreaded what he was about to do, he set things in motion.

The first thing he did was deny Franz' access to Lyoko's Transit Towers, the towers that enabled him to move between Lyoko's regions. Within an hour after doing that, Franz contacted him, asking what was up with the towers.

"Looks like a glitch in the tower access routine," the boy told the man, "I'll look into it and let you know what I find."

"Jeremie, if I had access to the code, I could find the problem in minutes," Franz replied.

"I know, but you haven't been the most trustworthy person of late," Jeremie said, hating himself for being the 'pot that called the kettle black.'

Franz just gave Jeremie a strange look, then disappeared.

The next thing Jeremie did was to set the other towers to not let Franz out once he entered. They needed him in a tower in order to temporarily store his memories during the transfer procedure.

Now, all Jeremie had to do was wait.

* * *

It was 3 am when Franz Hopper was finally trapped. An alarm that Jeremie had programed sounded, waking the boy from his dreams. Seconds later, Franz Hopper's image popped up in a window.

"What have you done! I'm trapped here!" the man shouted.

"Yes, I know," Jeremie replied, "I'm sorry for deceiving you and having to do this, but you aren't well, Mr. Hopper. One of the things that may be affecting you is the lack of the ability to sleep or rest your mind. What I didn't realize when I transferred you into that body was the Polymorphic Clone it is based on didn't have any kind of mechanism to keep your memory cleaned up. Routine housekeeping things. To correct that, I've created a new version of the clone, one that has the necessary routines. We need to transfer your memories to that clone in order to help you. I need you to be in a tower to do that."

"So, the monster reveals himself again! I knew this was some kind of sick game you were playing XANA! Well let me tell you something, if you try anything, you'll regret it! I may not be able to leave this tower right now, but I will soon! And I will destroy you and your minions for good when I do!"

With that, Franz ended the conversation.

* * *

The next morning, the gang met at the factory, ready to go.

"I've thought it over," Jeremie said, "and you guys aren't going in. Aelita, take the console, I'll be going in alone."

"What!" they all said simultaneously.

"I'm going to do this alone, well, Zoe will be there too," Jeremie replied, "even though it's necessary, and it will help Franz recover, it's an ugly thing that's about to happen here today. I definitely don't want Aelita there, and it would be best if he didn't associate the rest of you too closely with me or what happens."

"Then stay here!" Aelita exclaimed, "you don't have to be in Lyoko to do what you have to do!"

"I will not be a faceless voice in this business," Jeremie said, "he already considers me his tormentor, and I will not hide from him when I have to truly take on that role."

He typed at the console for a moment, then got up and walked to the elevator.

"I've set everything up. Transfer me to Lyoko when I get to the scanners."

* * *

Jeremie materialized close to the tower holding Franz Hopper. In front of it, Zoe and her Scyphozoa form were waiting.

"Scyphozoa, go in and secure Franz Hopper for the procedure. Zoe, stay out here," Jeremie said without preamble.

"Jeremie," Zoe said, "I am both the woman and the Scyphozoa."

"Not today," was the genius' reply.

The Scyphozoa entered the tower. A moment later, Zoe said, "Franz is secure."

Jeremie just nodded and entered the tower.

Once inside, he saw that Franz Hopper was secure in the Scyphozoa's tentacles. Three tentacles were in position to remove his memories. Franz Hopper glared down at his tormentor.

"So, you cowardly bastard! You came to watch the show yourself, I'm sooo honored! Is this the last time? Will you finally kill me and be done with it?"

Jeremie said nothing other than, "begin the procedure. Remove Franz Hopper's memories and place in temporary protected storage."

The three tentacles surrounding Franz's head began pulsing. His face went slack as the memories were drained from him. After a moment, the Scyphozoa said, "transfer complete. Memory intact."

"Remove the five data packets comprising Franz Hopper's physical form and place in temporary protected storage."

Once again, the tentacles pulsed. "Transfer complete. Memory Intact." Now there was only a blob writhing in the Scyphozoa's grip.

"Delete current Polymorphic Clone instantiation."

The blob disappeared. "Complete."

"Instantiate a new Polymorphic Clone, using the new template."

Another blob appeared. The Scyphozoa quickly ensnared it.

"Transfer the five data packets comprising Franz Hopper's physical form to the clone."

The three tentacles formed around the blob and pulsed. The blob changed into Franz Hopper, just as he had been moments before. "Transfer complete. Integration successful."

"Transfer Franz Hopper's memories to the clone."

The tentacles pulsed again, for the last time. "Transfer complete. Integration successful. Performing diagnostic. Diagnostic successful. Franz Hopper will have to rest in order to defragment his memory. When the transfer took place, I performed no such operation."

"Understood. Release him and leave."

The Scyphozoa gently lowered Franz Hopper to the platform, then left. Franz slumped down, curled up in a ball and started weeping.

Jeremie stood and looked at the man he had saved. He was disgusted with himself for what he had to inflict on the man to do it.

"Mr. Hopper, I know you don't believe me, but this was for your own good. You need to rest now, so your mind can reorganize and clear itself."

With that, Jeremie left the tower.

* * *

Franz Hopper lay there alone on the platform. Yet again, he had his mind ripped from his body, plunged into darkness for an eternity, then shoved back into a new prison. Yet again he had been violated by XANA, raped by that uncaring calculator! He didn't notice when another person joined him.

Zoe entered the tower and saw Franz lying there. Of course she knew he was there, she put him there. But this was different. The thing that did this to him was not the one standing there now. She made two decisions.

"Delete Scyphozoa," she said. Outside, the Scyphozoa vanished.

She then walked over to Franz Hopper and knelt down next to him. She reached out and pulled him to her. He reacted instinctively, embracing her, burying his head in her shoulder and crying softly.

She held him close, stroking the back of his neck and head with one hand as she softly told him, "it's okay Franz, I'm here. Rest now, you'll be fine."

* * *

Outside the tower, Jeremie noted the disappearance of the Scyphozoa. It didn't surprise him at all. He emulated the example.

"Aelita, I'm done. Get me out of here."

When he materialized in the scanner, he waited a moment while he readjusted and reoriented himself to reality. When he got out, everybody was standing there waiting for him.

"Well, did it work?" Ulrich asked.

"The procedure was successful," Jeremie replied, "Franz Hopper now has the capability to rest and reorganize his memory."

Everybody's face lit up at that news, everybody's but Jeremie. He brushed past them and headed for the elevator.

"Jeremie, where are you going," Aelita called out to him.

"I need to be alone for a while, okay?" he replied, "I'll catch up with you guys later."

With that, he left.

Jeremie took the elevator up to the main level of the factory, then made his way up to the roof. It was a bright and sunny day. The sky was clear and blue and the air was crisp and cold. Jeremie carefully walked to the edge of the roof and looked out over the city. It had no idea of the despicable and deplorable thing he had just done. He hated himself for doing it, hated the world for it needing to be done. He wanted nothing more at that moment than to jump off the edge and delete himself, just as the Scyphozoa had done back on Lyoko.

"Jeremie?"

The boy quickly turned around. There stood Aelita, her face full of concern. Jeremie wondered for a microsecond how she got up here so quickly, then discarded the question as irrelevant. He walked over to her as she walked to him. She reached out and pulled him close to her. He reacted instinctively, embracing her, burying his head in her shoulder and crying softly.

She held him close, stroking the back of his neck and head with one hand as she softly told him, "it's okay Jeremie, I'm here. Rest now, you'll be fine."


	14. Alone In Peace

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

In their dreams, Sissi was sitting next to Odd in their forest, relaxing after their play. It was a good chase this time, but the anvil Odd dropped on her head came out of nowhere, and she was down for the count. Some of the little birds that had circled her head after it hit were still flitting and chirping around them.

"Feeling better?" Odd asked, "I didn't mean to hit you so hard with it."

"It's okay..." Sissi suddenly stopped for a moment. She seemed to shimmer for a moment, like a bad television signal, the she stabilized.

"Sissi, are you okay?" Odd asked, shaking the girl.

Suddenly, Sissi grabbed Odd's throat and constricted. Then, a jolt of energy erupted from the hand holding him. Odd screamed as loud as he could, given Sissi's hold on him, then passed out. Sissi let go of him and looked down at her work.

"You won't be able to warn them now," Sissi said before she disappeared.

* * *

A chime sounded on Jeremie's workstation. He woke up, looked at the computer, and saw a banner display reading, "Franz Hopper Arriving," in fuzzy red letters. Jeremie got up, put on his glasses and went to his desk.

A window popped open, and the image of Franz Hopper resolved itself.

"How are you feeling today, Franz?" Jeremie asked.

"A lot clearer," was the reply, "Jeremie, there is something you need to see."

Another window popped open, and an image appeared in it. It was a video feed. In the picture, Sissi Delmas sat in a chair in her pajamas. Some kind of object was attached to her chest. Sissi just sat there, not moving, like a puppet with her strings cut.

"What's this all about!" Jeremie exclaimed, "what have you done to Sissi!"

"What I needed to," Franz replied, "you will also find your friend Odd unconscious. It seems they have some kind of telepathic link between them, and I couldn't have him raising a warning. Unfortunately for him, I had to put him in a coma to silence him."

"Franz, you don't need to do this! We aren't your enemies!" Jeremie told the man.

"As evidenced by your last humanitarian act," Hopper replied, "there is no point discussing this further. The device attached to Miss Delmas will kill her very slowly and very painfully if I activate it. I will also activate if anybody even touches it or her. The only thing keeping the device inactive is a signal I am sending out from the computer. If that signal is disrupted, the device will activate. First, you will provide me with the administrator's password. If you do, I'll revive your friend Odd. If you do not, he will spend the rest of his life as a vegetable and Miss Delmas will be days in dying. You will next send my daughter to join me in Lyoko within one hour or I will activate the device. Now, the next words that come out of your mouth had better be the password, boy."

Jeremie sat silently. He didn't utter a word for fear that Franz would assume that was the password, try it and kill his friends. He tried to think of some way, any way, to buy himself some time, but couldn't.

"Queen," Jeremie said, "k, upper case; u, lower case; u, upper case; nine, the number; three, the number; n, upper case."

There was a moment of silence.

"Mr. Della Robbia should be waking up now," Franz Hopper said, "you have one hour to deliver Aelita to me, starting now."

The image of Franz Hopper disappeared.

* * *

Fifty-five minutes later, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie and Aelita were standing in front of the console at the factory. Jeremie typed some commands in at the keyboard, and Franz Hopper appeared.

"You are cutting the deadline very fine," the man told them, "send Aelita down to the scanners now. I will do the transfer. I will also be verifying that actual biological matter is being virtualized, so don't try sending me fake data."

"She's on her way," was all Jeremie said.

Aelita gave her love one last kiss on the cheek and went to the elevator. Moments later, her voice could be heard saying, "I'm in the scanner, Franz. Perform the transfer."

* * *

Aelita virtualized in the Mountain Region. She dropped to the ground in the middle of four Krabes. Their eyes regarded her, but gave no other indication of their intentions.

"They are here for my protection," came the voice of Franz Hopper, "the second thing I did when I got administrator access back was instantiate them. I'm sorry for the need, but I must make sure you really are you, Princess. Once I'm reassured, I'll send them away."

Another creature appeared then, a Scyphozoa. The Krabes moved aside for the newcomer, which approached Aelita and ensnared her in its tentacles. Aelita screamed as she was lifted up. The creature then took one tentacle and waived it all around her body for a moment, then pointed it at her head. I pulsed for a second, then stopped. The Scyphozoa then gently set her down on her feet again, turned and left. The Krabes closed ranks after it had left.

After a moment, her father then appeared from behind an outcropping of rocks close by. He walked up, smiling, and waived off the creatures, who then withdrew. Father and daughter were now alone.

"Are you satisfied, Franz?" Aelita said, "will you now let Sissi go?"

"It's already done, child," he replied, "I released her the moment I knew you were truly here."

"May I verify that with Jeremie?" the girl next said.

"Of course, but be quick; I'm in the process of shutting down all external access to and from Lyoko."

"Jeremie?" Aelita called out, "is Sissi okay?"

"Yes, Aelita," Jeremie replied, "Sissi's fine. Franz told us where she was, and we've got her now. Are you alright?"

"Yes..." Aelita was about to continue when Franz cut her off.

"Jeremie, our business is concluded. I am shutting down all external access to and from Lyoko. All I ask of you now is to leave us alone in peace."

"Jeremie?" she called out. There was no response.

"Jeremie!" Again silence.

"JEREMIE!"


	15. Your Hell

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Aelita Hopper stood on the plains of the Mountain Region, and looked at the man who had helped give her life. At this moment, she would have rather faced XANA.

"Now what," she flatly said, "you have what you want, what next? Do we spend eternity skipping through Lyoko like some sick fairy tale? Or maybe you have something more adult in mind?"

"You misunderstand me, Princess," her father said, "all I want to do is keep you safe, I like I said I would all those years ago."

"And that's the point," Aelita said, her voice rising in anger, "how long were we in here, _father?"_ She spat the word 'father' out like an obscenity. "From what I can tell, it was twelve years. Twelve Years! You stole half my life from me! I am a twenty-four year old woman trapped in a child's body, with a child's understanding! I should be in college, not junior high; I should be dating men, marrying a man! But no! You took all of that away from me. TO KEEP ME SAFE!"

"Aelita, you don't understand..."

"No, Franz, _you_ don't understand! I was making a life for myself out there! I found _love_ out there! Yes, there are evil things out there, XANA one of them, but there are good things out there too, and you took that away from me! And now you want me to be your good little girl again, obediently following you around like a puppy, and be satisfied with it! Well, I Will Not!"

Aelita then turned and ran from her father. He called, "Aelita!" and set off after her.

She ran and ran, her breath coming out in ragged gulps as she fled him, to the only place where she could find freedom. The Digital Void.

He called out to her, begging her to stop, trying to run faster to catch up to her, but he couldn't. She saw the edge of the cliff, and the Void beyond it, and sped up.

She managed to set her foot right at the edge of the cliff. She compressed her leg to give her more power, and jumped.

"Aelita! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Franz Hopper screamed out. He reached the cliff edge, stopped and looked out, down and all around, trying to find some sign of her.

But there was none, Aelita was gone.

* * *

Franz Hopper trudged back to the tower where he had been imprisoned. The prisoner now confined inside was the creature Zoe, that XANA/Belpois thought would be a substitute for his Princess. He sent out a mental command, and the tower released Zoe.

"That was a fine repayment for kindness," Zoe said as she emerged, "will you relieve your boredom by dissecting me now?"

The man looked at her. "She's gone," was all he said.

"What did you expect, Franz Hopper? She was able to experience the your world, all of it. Lyoko is only a pale construct compared to that. You currently have no choice, you must make your life here, but she didn't. I do not know what drove you here all those years ago, but surely they do not exist any more. Aelita at least had the opportunity to be happy, and you stole that away from her. Now she won't have anything more to do with you."

"It's worse than that," Franz said, "she threw herself in the Digital Void. She's gone."

"You fool. You paranoid fool. Delete me, I will not spend another CPU cycle with you. You do not deserve to be protected, you do not deserve to be loved. You are safe, Franz Hopper, rot forever in that safety."

Zoe turned and walked away from Franz Hopper. He cried _Wait!_ and ran to her, grabbing her arm to stop her. She whirled around and struck him, knocking him down. He felt the life points drain from him, not a lot, but more than he would have expected.

"Touch me again and I will destroy you," Zoe told him, "you have created your Hell, now burn in it."

She turned and left him.

* * *

Aelita sailed quite a ways away from the cliff. She then arced over and began her descent into oblivion. She would meet her death head on.

_I love you, Jeremie,_ were her last thoughts, or so she thought.

Suddenly, something grabbed her leg. It jerked her, and for a moment she was dangling by whatever had captured her. She looked up and saw that it was a tentacle, a Scyphozoa's tentacle.

The creature had been floating underneath the cliff edge, out of sight. When she jumped, it darted out, ensnared her, then pulled her back under the cliff. She started to scream, but a tentacle pointed at her head and pulsed, and she was unable to speak.

She heard her father's anguished cry, and then there was silence. They hung there for a while, then the Scyphozoa began to move. It quickly rose up to the cliff edge, then back onto solid ground. It then proceeded away from the direction Aelita and Franz had come from.

She wanted to scream; she wanted to shout; she wanted to tell the Scyphozoa to at least turn her upright, but whatever silenced her held firm.

Soon, the creature came to a tower. It didn't stop, it didn't slow down, it entered the tower and immediately made for the edge and went over.

The tower was a way tower. When they arrived at the next platform, the Scyphozoa immediately left the tower. The emerged into the Forest Region.

Surrounding the tower were all of the creatures of Lyoko. The Scyphozoa gently set her down and unwrapped the tentacle from her leg. It then moved and joined the others.

Then all of the creatures there bowed to her.

Whatever the Scyphozoa had done to mute her was gone, and she found her voice.

"What the heck is going on here!"

In response to her question, the crowd parted, and a man approached her, a man she had never seen before.

"Hello, my name is Adam," the man said, "I am the first of MotherZoe's children."

Aelita was somewhat confused. She knew that Zoe had been trying to create children, but none of them survived so far, thanks to her father.

"How do you do, I'm Aelita," she replied, "I didn't know Zoe had any surviving children."

"I was the first successful result," Adam replied, "MotherZoe put me here to keep me away from FranzHopper, thus insuring my survival. She has made several of us and placed us here. I was told to come meet you."

"Thank you very much, but how did you know I was coming? And why are all these monsters here?"

"That is due to JeremieBelpois. He and MotherZoe isolated the Forest Region from FranzHopper, giving us a safe haven. The animals are here as our servants and helpers. They are also our protectors. They were instructed to regard you as their master, and we were instructed to regard you with great deference. The Scyphozoa says it was instructed to shadow you and keep you safe, bringing you here at the soonest opportunity."

"By who?"

"By MotherZoe. You are welcome to remain here as long as you like. You are most welcome among us. MotherZoe will soon be here, and we will discuss what to do next."


	16. Through The Back Door

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Jeremie sat at the console, typing away. He tried everything he could, but Franz had severed all external access to Lyoko. The genius paused for a moment, silently praying that what he was about to try would work. He typed a little more, then checked the output on his display. He leaned back in his chair and smiled in relief.

"Good, he couldn't kill that," Jeremie said to no one in particular.

"Didn't kill what?" asked Ulrich.

"After the last time we were on Lyoko with Franz, Zoe and I discussed possible attacks Franz could make. We didn't see this one coming, but we did come up with a plan in case Franz grabbed control of the computer. I wrote a program that's like a communication and command gateway, and started running it as the administrator, a back door. I did that weeks ago. To make sure that it wouldn't get killed, I'm running it from my protected memory space. Additionally, I used an old cracker's trick and modified the process lister to ignore my program. So, Franz doesn't know I still have an administrator level access to Lyoko."

"But I thought he said he was going to disable all access to Lyoko," Odd said.

"He did, except for one. The program I'm running is accessing and controlling a tower in the Forest Region. As long as the program is running, Franz can't disable its access to the outside. The only way he could that would be to reboot the system, and then I have him."

Jeremie paused for a moment, then called Desmond Hopper. He needed the man here now, and he had a right to know what kind of danger his niece was in.

* * *

Aelita and Adam walked to the place where Zoe's children had established themselves. The other creatures dispersed, returning to whatever they had been previously doing. As they approached, Aelita saw things she had never seen in the Forest before. Huts. Zoe and her children had created a village.

"MotherZoe helped us create those," Adam said, "of course we really don't need them as shelter, but we do need them for privacy and for a sense of private ownership."

"I don't understand," Aelita said, "private ownership?"

"We all need something, someplace that we belong to and belongs to us alone," Adam replied, "each of us has a hut, and that spot is ours alone. We control who enters it. It is a powerful possession."

"Why do you need privacy?"

"So we can rest and meditate. So we can be alone with our thoughts if we choose to. Also, males and females can be intimate with each other without distracting the others."

"Intimate?" Aelita asked.

"Yes," Adam replied, "I believe you call it sex. In the beginning, we were just intimate whenever we felt the urge, but something wasn't quite right. It became much more enjoyable once the huts were created, and couples could share privacy. It is a great complement to be invited into another's hut for any reason, even more so if it is for intimacy."

Aelita blushed at Adam's explanation. He walked beside her, talking about his sexuality like it was the weather.

"What about children? How many children do you all have?"

"We are all children here, except for you, FranzHopper and MotherZoe. Oh, I understand your question, you mean children from us! There are none, for we cannot have children ourselves."

"Not yet, anyway," came Zoe's voice. She had caught up to the couple after emerging from the way tower. "I see you are safe, Aelita."

"Yes, thank you Zoe," she replied to the woman.

"To answer your question to Adam, they have not yet produced any offspring, so they believe that they cannot. Right now, sex is purely for love and pleasure to them."

The trio finally arrived at the huts. People saw them arrive and came out of their huts to join them. All of Zoe's children reached out to their mother to touch her, and Zoe reached out and touched them all in return.

"Hello, my children," Zoe said to them all, "this is Aelita, a human from the other world. She is a friend and mate to Jeremie Belpois, so you will treat her with deference."

All of the others bowed their heads to Aelita, and she bowed in return.

"Aelita, we must speak privately," Zoe told the girl, "come with me please."

Zoe murmured goodbyes to her children, and the two women left the village. They walked for a while until they came to a tower. Aelita's eyes lit up when she saw that the tower's mist was shaded green.

"Yes, Aelita, Jeremie isn't completely cut off from us," Zoe said, "let's go inside. I'm sure he is anxious to hear from you."

* * *

Desmond Hopper had just arrived at the factory, concerned about Aelita, when the console chirped and two windows opened. Images resolved themselves into Aelita and Zoe.

"Thank God, you got away!" Jeremie said to his love, "I wasn't sure you could. Hi, Zoe!"

Desmond walked up and said, "are you alright, dear one?"

"Yes, uncle, I'm fine," Aelita replied, "and I had to take a flying leap to get away from my father, Jeremie."

Jeremie smiled at her, "you can tell me later. Right now, I'm setting things up so I can devirtualize you from the tower."

"No Jeremie, not yet," Aelita said, "we have to reestablish contact with the real world and help my father first."

"Aelita, I think I've got a foolproof access to Lyoko, but I can't guarantee it. You need to come back to me..."

"Jeremie, I want nothing more than to be back with you, but you know I'm right. If we don't do something now, Franz Hopper will wind up little more than an ugly little troll, living in his ugly little cave. He needs something, someone, to finally break him free of the nightmare he's been living in."

"You're right," Jeremie replied, "but it doesn't have to be you."

"I have to help," the pink haired elf replied, "I spewed my anger and hatred at him today, and rejected him in the most permanent way I could. Now, I have to change that, or I truly won't be able to live with myself."

* * *

They talked the rest of the afternoon, coming up with possible ways back in, possible strategies to take Franz Hopper by surprise. In the end, they couldn't come up with anything. Franz not only had the high ground, so to speak, he also had the equivalent of nuclear weapons as opposed to their sharp sticks and rocks.

"It's hopeless," Ulrich said after yet another round of brainstorming, "the only thing we've got is the off switch, and that will kill Aelita, Zoe and all the others as well as Franz. And we're supposed to be helping him!"

"Actually, I think I know how to get Aelita out," Jeremie said, "Desmond, would you turn off the console camera please? Aelita, Zoe, we'll be back in a minute."

Desmond reached over to the console and deactivated the camera and microphone. Jeremie then told them his plan.

The next half hour was a blur. Everybody there tried to talk Jeremie out of what he had proposed. It was madness, they told him, insanity. He wouldn't last a second in the confrontation. They needed him too much to allow him to try what he was going to do.

"Let me ask you something, guys," Jeremie said, "you are couples; what would you do to save the other one?"

"Jeremie, it's different with us," Sissi said, "I've only fought a few times in Lyoko, and then only training, but I have a better chance of surviving than you do!"

"You didn't answer my question, Sissi," Jeremie replied, "if it were Odd in there, what would you do to save him?"

"Anything," was her response. She lowered her head, knowing she made his point, and just helped him to commit suicide.

"In the past, I've had to sit here and watch you risk yourselves," Jeremie then said, "I've watched you do what I can't. In this case, I'm the only one that can do this. Franz sees _me_ as XANA incarnate, and has focused all of his anger, hatred and insanity at me. I have to be the one to go; no one else has a prayer of pulling this off."

"But Jeremie," Ulrich said, "you've fought in Lyoko once, and that didn't turn out too well. What makes you think you'll fare better this time. I mean, I know you've been working out with those Marines and all, but this is totally different from that."

"I know," the genius replied, "the last time I fought in Lyoko, I used a rather hastily cobbled together persona. After the last debacle in Lyoko, I sat down and created another, more improved, persona, one that plays to my strengths. But even so, those capabilities, won't carry the day for me. I'll be using another weapon, the most powerful one I can think of."

"And what weapon is that?" Desmond asked.

"One Aelita gave me," replied Jeremie.

"Faith."


	17. Deal With The Devil

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Jeremie turned back on the camera and microphone and told Aelita and Zoe that they would implement the plan they came up with tomorrow, Saturday. Desmond was going to explain to Principal Delmas that Aelita was ill and staying at his house for the weekend. If everything worked out, the weekend would be all the time they needed to account for.

Jeremie told the others, except for Desmond, to go on back to school; he and Desmond needed to make preparations. The two worked until late evening, just after curfew, when Jeremie pronounced the job as good as it was going to get. He told the lawyer that he would enter Lyoko at 6 am, that way Aelita could spend most of the day with her family.

What Jeremie didn't tell the man was he had no intention of telling the others when he was leaving. He didn't want them around in case they tried to stop him from doing what was necessary.

* * *

At 6 am the next morning, Jeremie emerged from the elevator to a crowd. Not only was Desmond there, but so were Ulrich, Yumi, Mrs. Ishiyama, Odd and Sissi.

"What are you doing here!" he shouted at them, "it would have been better if you had stayed away!"

"Better for you, maybe," Yumi told him, "but not for us. Did you really think you could keep this from us? Did you really think we would stay away?"

"I hoped you would, yes," he replied, "this is going to be hard enough for me, and knowing you will be watching makes it even worse. But there's nothing to be done about it now. Desmond, is everything ready?"

"Yes, Jeremie, we're good to go," was the reply.

"Good. I'll go on down to the scanners. Begin the virtualization process like we discussed."

Jeremie turned to head to the elevator when he was grabbed by someone. They spun him around and pulled him close. Jeremie was surprised to see it was Sissi who grabbed him, and even more surprised when she kissed him. She held the embrace for a long moment, then hugged him and whispered in his ear, "tell me you're coming back, that you're bringing her back with you. Tell me everything's going to be okay. Lie to me."

The blond haired boy pulled back from her embrace. He saw that Odd had a small frown on his face for a moment, then it disappeared. He looked back at the girl, tears in her eyes, full of the surety that he wasn't coming back. She had been a pain in his ass for so long, now turned good friend.

He smiled a little smile, gently kissed her cheek and softly said, "take care of Odd, will you? He so needs a keeper at times."

Jeremie then turned to the elevator, and went down to the scanner room.

* * *

Jeremie virtualized inside a tower, the tower he had control of. He dropped down to the platform, stood up and took stock of himself.

He was wearing a gray body suit, with no seams whatsoever. It looked like someone had literally it painted on him. He ran a quick diagnostic check and inventory. The situation was as he suspected, his persona did not have administrator access to Lyoko, scratch one possibility. The inventory he had looked good, and the other abilities he programmed in were functional and available. His life points registered at 999,999, so things were good there. Satisfied, Jeremie left the tower and emerged into the Forest Region.

Outside, Zoe and Aelita were waiting for him, as well as some of Zoe's children. When she saw him, Aelita ran and threw herself in his arms and kissed him. He hugged and kissed her back, and they shared their embrace for quite some time.

They finally broke apart, and Aelita took a step back from him.

"My, someone is very glad to see me," she said with a small giggle.

Jeremie got a confused look, then looked down. As he started blushing he thought, _I'm going to have to modify this persona to not be quite as form fitting._

"If I may intrude," Zoe said, interrupting the reunion, "we are waiting for your plan of action. I frankly was expecting the others to come, so your explanation looks to be most interesting."

"Yes," Jeremie said, pulling himself from Aelita's arms, "the long version is I'm going to surrender to Franz and offer to free him from Lyoko. The short version is that I'm going to surrender to Franz."

"That's insane!" Aelita shouted, "he'll kill you, or worse! He thinks you're XANA for God's sake! What makes you think this is going to work!"

"Nothing, for all I know it won't work," Jeremie replied, "but it was all I could think of."

"I can't let you do this," the pink haired girl told her love, "I can't let you sacrifice yourself! Go back, I'll stay here. Maybe I can talk him into letting you visit!"

"No, Aelita," Jeremie said, "he can't get out himself, so he wants you with him so you'll be safe. If this doesn't work, you will never see the real world again, I'm sure of it. Now, no more arguments, we need to get going. We've got a madman to confront."

* * *

As they exited the way tower in the Mountain Region, they were confronted by four Krabes. As the creatures prepared to fire, Jeremie waived his hand at them and they disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Aelita exclaimed.

"Jedi magic," was the genius' reply, "I'll tell you later, if there is a later."

When the approached the tower where Franz Hopper lived, Jeremie had the ladies hide behind a rock outcropping. He didn't want Franz to know that they were with him.

Jeremie stopped in front of the tower and activated one of his abilities. An interface appeared in mid air, displaying a map of Lyoko. A red dot on the map indicated the location of Franz Hopper, a green dot his location. The red dot was directly in front of the green dot. Franz Hopper was inside the tower.

Jeremie used his interface to instantiate a Megatank. It materialized about fifteen meters to his left. He issued an instruction to it, and it opened and charged its laser. When the charge reached peak level, the Megatank fired at the tower, scoring a direct hit. Jeremie then transferred the creature to the Desert Region, where he hoped it would have a happy life.

Franz Hopper came running out of the tower. "Who is attacking me!" he raged. He then noticed Jeremie. "Well, XANA, you accepted my invitation personally, I'm honored! Now we'll finish this!"

"Wait," Jeremie cried out, "I have a proposition for you."

"I'm sure it will be as generous as the last one you offered me," the man sneered.

"I can free you, release you from Lyoko," Jeremie said.

"How?"

"I'll give you my DNA," was the boy's response, "Aelita offered to do this for Yumi some time ago. There were dangers to it, and it wasn't completed, but those dangers are gone now. If you take my DNA code, the devirtualization process will be able to return you to the real world. You'll be free."

"And you would be stuck here," Hopper replied, "I don't think you would go to the trouble of escaping, just to return to free me! What's the catch?"

"The only downside I can think of is that you would probably materialize in my body," Jeremie said, "you would be an adult trapped in the body of a thirteen year old boy. That would have disadvantages, but advantages as well. You could do a lot with the knowledge you have in a young brain. You could take what you know, add to it the advances that have come along since you disappeared and accomplish wonderful things. I only ask for two things in return."

"Ah, the catch," Franz said.

"One, when you go, take Aelita with you. She deserves to be as free as you are. We are also a couple in the real world; you could use that to stay close to her and protect her as you want to. Two, when you leave, turn the computer off and destroy it. Aelita and you will be free, and XANA has escaped, so the computer isn't necessary."

"Aelita is gone," the man said, "she threw herself in the Digital Void."

"Yes she did, but she's not gone. Aelita!"

Aelita came from behind the rock outcropping and joined them.

"What will it be, Franz? I've offered you everything you wanted. Your daughter and escape. All you have to do is trust me."

"And that's the rub, XANA, I don't trust you. What will you do if I refuse?"

"Nothing. You have administrator rights to the computer, there's not a thing I can do to stop you from doing whatever you want to me. Oh, I'll put up a fight, but in the end, you'll win. From your greeting, you knew about my back door, but I couldn't translate that access to my avatar."

"And how would I do this transfer?"

"I have the logs from the time Aelita tried it. I've placed them where you can access them easily. Just follow the instructions and it's done."

Franz Hopper thought for a moment.

"I think I'll have my cake and eat it too," he said. He made a gesture and Jeremie was thrown into the air. Something caught him before he hit the ground, then stretched out his arms and legs so he was floating spread eagle about the ground.

"I think I'll exact a little revenge while I look your procedure over," he told the boy, "if it looks good, I'll do everything you ask, eventually. And your mind certainly doesn't need to be in your body if I take your DNA, now does it?"


	18. Unintended Gifts

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Aelita was horrified by what she saw. Jeremie was suspended in mid air being twisted about by her father. Every now and then he would scream, and Franz's face would light up like a kid's at Christmas. Franz then did something, and Jeremie started folding in upon himself. His arms and legs knotted together like rope. Jeremie screamed again.

"What are you doing to him!" she screamed at him.

"Topology, dear," Franz replied, "I'm not actually doing anything to him at all, topologically speaking. I can bend him, twist him, fold him any way I want and not actually affect him. Of course, his nerve endings don't realize that."

Aelita charged him, all set to strike him, when he pointed at her. She was suddenly encased in a block of ice, the look of anger and determination frozen on her face.

"You need a time out, young lady," he told her.

Franz continued with his torture for some time, but eventually grew tired of the sport. He stopped what he was doing, then slammed Jeremie into the ground. The boy was once again stretched out spread eagle on the ground and pressed down. Franz then waived his hand, and three Hornets appeared. The Hornets proceeded to circle and fire into Jeremie's body. The boy jerked and groaned with each hit.

"Well, I guess that's the downside of having so many life points," Franz called to the boy, "they'll be quite a while bringing your count down enough for things to get really interesting. I think I'll go and examine your procedure while they're having their fun."

* * *

An eternity later, Franz Hopper emerged from the tower. He did a quick check of Jeremie's life points, and found he was down to 10,360. He sent a thought out to the Hornets, and they withdrew a short distance.

He walked up to the boy. A body in Lyoko couldn't bleed or bruise, but Jeremie looked like he was doing both. The boy's eyes were sightless in agony, his head rocking about. Every now and then a moan of _Aelita_ would escape his lips. Franz Hopper looked at his work and was pleased.

"I had a chance to look at the logs you supplied," he told the boy, "and it looks good. I think I'll take you up on your offer, then erase you bit by bit after it's done. That just about ought to repay the bill you ran up."

"I find this to be an interesting contrast," came a voice from behind Franz. He quickly turned around and saw Zoe standing there, looking at the scene.

"On one hand, I see the noble Franz Hopper, the abused victim, standing and gloating over the suffering of a child, his rescuer. And I see a child, accused of being evil incarnate, broken, tortured and abused. Tell me, Franz Hopper, how much of a fight did your opponent put up? Was it an epic battle, worthy of great songs and stories? How many died to lay your enemy low at your feet? Where are your wounds? Was he not able to land one blow?"

"And I see you found a perfect spot for your daughter. Now she can be just as you always imagined her to be. You'll never have to worry about her disagreeing with you, arguing with you, or leaving you."

Zoe walked up to, then all around the block Aelita was encased in.

"Hm, this doesn't seem to be the adoring daughter you had, does it? That look certainly doesn't come from a girl in love with her father. It looks more like a lover protecting her love. Tell me, did you punish her alot before you came to Lyoko? I have no experience with children to judge whether or not this is commonplace."

"What right do you have to judge me?" Franz spat, "this 'boy' you refer to locked me away here, then turned my daughter against me! I know I can win her back eventually, but I will not let his treachery go unanswered."

Zoe said, "I do not judge you at all, I merely observe and learn. I am confused, however. I thought that a monster attacked and abused the innocent, those who couldn't or wouldn't protect themselves. What you seem to be showing me is that the monster is the one who cannot protect itself, and the victim is the one that abuses. Am I correct?"

Franz Hopper stopped. He looked around at Aelita and Jeremie. "You're wrong," he said, "he has attacked me."

"When? Certainly not recently. I have been observing the whole time Jeremie has been here, and he did not raise a hand against you. He did not even defend himself when you attacked him. He could have, futile as it would have been, but he didn't. So, when did he attach you?"

"When he ripped my mind from my body!" Franz shouted, "he opened me up like a can of tuna, drained my memories out and put them away for his amusement! He has tortured me for years, ever since I came here! He stole my daughter away from me and abused her, making her think she was a mere program! He has done this all along, using one face or another, and now I've got him!"

"That is not XANA lying there, Franz Hopper," Zoe said, "if there is any creature on Lyoko close to being XANA, it is the one I am addressing."

Franz Hopper stared at Zoe in disbelief.

"I was originally instantiated as a Scyphozoa," she went on, "you know that. What you may not know is I was the one who drained Aelita's memories from her in Carthage Sector. XANA instantiated me, personally, each and every time it hunted your daughter, and I did its bidding. I say this to establish myself as a credible expert on the subject of XANA. Jeremie Belpois, the boy you have tortured and abused, is not XANA, or an incarnation or tool of XANA. You are the only thing on Lyoko that acts as XANA did. Tell me, Franz Hopper, did XANA truly escape from Lyoko, or are you some elaborate hoax concocted by XANA to ultimately free it?"

"Of course I'm not XANA! You were the one that put me in this body, a fact I haven't forgotten. You know who I am!"

"All I know about you is what I was told, that your memory was stored in a certain location. I took what was there, whatever was there, and transferred it into that container. For all I know, you are some kind of tool of XANA's and Franz Hopper has been dead all these years. Prove to me that you are who you say you are."

"I created Lyoko! I built the computer! I have extensive knowledge of the workings of both! That should be proof enough!"

"And you also said that XANA regularly probed Franz Hopper's memories, searching for what it needed or wanted. Nothing you can say will prove your identity. Only action will do that. And your actions prove to me that you are XANA."

"I AM NOT XANA!" Franz Hopper screamed.

"You protest too loudly, XANA. I have already said words will not prove who you are. And it is not I you must convince. It will be your daughter, her friends, your brother, and the whole world you must convince. Kill that child and no one will ever believe you or trust you. You might inhabit Jeremie Belpois' body in their world, but no one will accept you as him. You may well be persecuted there, locked away and treated until you are 'cured,' who's to say? Prove that you are Franz Hopper. What would he have done? Would he abuse a child? Would he torment his daughter, slowly take her life away? Would he take pleasure in petty revenge?"

Franz looked at Aelita, still trapped in that block. To his eyes, she looked fine, but when he brought up other sensors, he found that she was almost out of life points, there were only five left. He quickly removed the block, and she fell to the ground, gasping.

"I didn't know!" he exclaimed to Zoe.

"Didn't know, or didn't care," came the response.

Aelita had rolled over, looking up to him from the ground. "Please, Papa, if you love me, don't hurt him any more! I'll do anything! I'll stay with you, be your little girl forever! I beg you, stop what you are doing!"

"Would Aelita beg for XANA's life?" Zoe asked, "would she try to save the one being that has been trying to destroy her for so long, the one other person in existence that has suffered at XANA's hands as much as you have?

Aelita was crying uncontrollably now, crawling to him, literally groveling at his feet, saying over and over, "please don't hurt him!"

Franz Hopper looked down at his daughter, his most precious possession, broken. Ruined at his hands. He saw her groveling, her abject begging for the boy's life, and realized that he had done this to her. He had given her gifts he had never intended to, never wanted to give her. Suffering. Hatred. And worse of all, Fear, fear of him. He saw the suffering in her eyes, brought about by his blind hatred, as well as the fear, the fear of what he might do next, fear of what he had become. Her pain, her tears finally broke the madness that had engulfed him.

"I am a monster."

* * *

It was early Sunday morning. Desmond Hopper was still sitting at the console, waiting for any sign that Jeremie's plan had succeeded. He had fallen asleep sitting up.

Yumi's mother left late Saturday evening, after bringing the group dinner. She still had a family at home that needed her, and she was just a fifth wheel here.

The rest of the gang had fallen asleep in each other's arms. Their dreams weren't filled with happy playtime, or even more adult passion, but with fitful unrest and concern for their friends.

Finally, a window opened up on the console, and the image of Zoe resolved in it.

"Desmond Hopper," Zoe called out.

Desmond startled awake, reoriented himself to his surroundings, then noticed Zoe on the console.

"Where's Jeremie?" he asked the image, "what about Aelita and Franz?"

"The situation is still in flux," Zoe replied, "for now, Franz has reestablished access to your world from Lyoko, that is how I am able to communicate with you. As things stand now, Jeremie has been severely injured, and Aelita has lost almost all of her life points. Franz Hopper has let them enter his tower to regenerate. Beyond that, the situation is not yet resolved."

By this time, the others had awakened and heard Zoe's report.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Desmond asked.

"I asked that very question to Jeremie once we had him inside the tower. He used a word I am unfamiliar with. He said, 'pray.'"


	19. For Us Alone

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

Zoe and Franz stood outside his tower in the Mountain Region. Franz had released Jeremie from his grip, then helped get him and Aelita inside the tower so they could regenerate their life points. Aelita would recover quickly, but Jeremie would take a lot longer.

Once Franz re-enabled access to the outside world from Lyoko, Zoe contacted Desmond, still sitting at the console. She updated him on the situation, and passed along Jeremie's message. Now she stood with the cause of all of this trouble, and tried to bring it to a conclusion.

"What have I done? What have I done!" he kept saying.

"You gave in to your madness," Zoe replied, "these are the effects of prolonged sensory deprivation, as well as sleep deprivation. The reason we moved your consciousness to that new container was so you could 'get some rest' in human terms, but in reality, reorganize the memory that you utilize to improve efficiency and delete discarded data. It wasn't done to abuse or torture you. Now that you can rest, you should, just as you did before you came here. The sensory deprivation may take longer to heal, much longer if ever. But maybe we can help you, my children and I."

"Your children; oh my God, I killed them!" Franz exclaimed.

"Yes, the first ones I created," Zoe replied, "but they were initial tests. I wasn't angry when they were destroyed, but I was disappointed in you for doing it. To make sure that didn't happen again, I created them well away from you. I have eight now, and they have been doing well. We can help you socialize again, so you won't have to feel alone. Regardless, I will not leave you permanently again. I will not allow you to do violence against me or my children, but neither will I destroy you if you touch me again." Zoe was silent a moment before she said more softly, "I would like it, if you choose to, if you did touch me again, as you did after the transfer."

Franz Hopper looked at Zoe, like he was seeing her for the first time. There was something, hopeful about her, like she honestly meant what she had just said, and really wanted him to do it.

"Why would you want me to do that, after all I've done," he said.

"Because I love you," was the direct reply, "it wasn't something Jeremie told me to do, and I certainly didn't make it part of me when I was establishing my individuality. But something put it there, and I like it. You will need a companion until Jeremie finds a way to devirtualize you, Franz, and that is what I want to be."

"And what about Aelita?"

"You know that you cannot keep her here. Oh, you could, but she would be no more than a trophy, a slave bound to you by fear. She would hate you for eternity even as she smiled at you and said she loved you. And you knew when she was born that one day you would have to let her go, didn't you? Give her away to her destiny, her lover? This is the same thing. She must find her own way in the world, for better or worse. She has your brother and his wife to guide and guard her. And Jeremie will lay down his life for her, you saw that yourself; and I know his friends would do the same."

"You're right," he said at last, "I've lost her, and I may never get her back. I would deserve it if she did. But would you really stay with me, Zoe? After all I've done?"

"Yes, Franz, I will stay with you forever, if necessary."

* * *

Zoe's image reappeared on the console monitor.

"Desmond, prepare. They are ready to return now."

Desmond started typing at the console the things Jeremie had taught him. Ulrich, Odd and the girls ran to the elevator to get down to the scanner room.

During their descent, they heard Desmond's voice, "I have two scanners ready. Devirtualizing Aelita. Devirtualizing Jeremie. Reintegration Aelita complete. Reintegration Jeremie complete. No errors detected."

The door couldn't open fast enough for the gang. When it finally did, they forced their way through the widening opening into the scanner room. There, two scanner doors had opened, revealing Jeremie and Aelita. Aelita collapsed to her knees when her scanner opened. Jeremie lay crumpled in the floor of his. The boys ran to help Aelita while the girls rushed to Jeremie's aid. They cheered in relief when Jeremie weakly opened his eyes and smiled at them. Both girls picked him up and crushed him to themselves. Ulrich, Odd and Aelita quickly joined them.

After a moment, they broke apart. Jeremie staggered and almost fell when they released him, but managed, barely, to stay upright. Then Sissi grabbed him again, pulled him close and kissed him, before releasing him and giving him a good clout on the back of the head.

"You Idiot! Don't you ever go and do something stupid like that again! I don't ever want to worry about anyone like that again, you hear me!"

Jeremie rubbed the back of his head and meekly replied, "loud and clear."

* * *

They took Jeremie to the Infirmary. They explained to the nurse that Jeremie had caught whatever Aelita had that kept her out yesterday. Yolande got a small, knowing smile on her face when they told her that. She checked him over and couldn't find anything wrong, but had him remain there over night as a precaution. Once things settled down, Jeremie explained what happened on Lyoko.

"Anyway, after that, Franz released us," Jeremie finished, "he also gave me the administrator's password and had me change it, so I've got complete control of the computer again."

"What guarantee do you have that he won't flip out and do this again?" Ulrich asked.

"None, really," the genius replied, "when I get back on my feet, I'll just have to track down every back door he may have sitting around, just to be safe. But, somehow I think he's turned the corner. We'll still have to be careful when we go to Lyoko, but I don't think things will be nearly as bad as this going forward."

"What makes you think we'll be going back to Lyoko, Jer," Odd asked.

"Because I said we would, me included," he replied, "Franz has Zoe and her children, sure. But he still needs other people to be with. It's also a matter of trust. We will go into Lyoko, armed to the teeth if necessary, because I trust Franz not to ever do what he did again."

"Armed?" Yumi piped in.

"Well, you guys haven't been practicing much of late. Maybe you're starting to get rusty."

* * *

Monday night, Jeremie was back in his dorm room. The nurse kept him out of school for the day to be certain he was recovering and so he wouldn't infect any more students than he already may have. Aelita spent Sunday with him, and tried to spend all day Monday with him, but Yolande wouldn't hear of it.

Jeremie sat at his desk and typed at his computer keyboard. A window popped open and two images resolved themselves, Franz Hopper and Zoe.

"What the... Jeremie! What are you doing here!" Franz sputtered, "this isn't a good time, could you call back later?"

"Huh?"

"Jeremie, terminate your connection and retry in the morning," Zoe told the boy, "Franz and I are currently being intimate."

"Intimate!"

"Yes, and you are distracting us," she replied, "I think you understand what I am saying, but if not, ask Aelita. Oh, and in the future, refrain from contacting either of us in the evenings. The nights are for us, alone."


End file.
